Monday, January 15, 2018

Moira Donegan

I meant to post this earlier. It's good:


Books from 'Shithole Countries'

Heh, I'm hip with the entrepreneurial exploitation of the president, lol.


This is How Radical Leftists View the President, at Home and Abroad

At Der Spiegel:


Peeled Pomegranates

We used to eat pomegranates off the trees in my neighborhood back in the day. Oh boy, what I'd have given for one peeled, lol.

Seen on Twitter just now:


Aziz Ansari

Honestly, I'm just glad I'm married and I'm not dealing with society's sex panic as an everyday participant in the dating market. It's bad enough being at far-left college for my day job, although it's been like this on campus for a long time already, so I don't have to adjust my orientation too much. (My rule has been to never be alone with a woman in a closed room, and that's been the rule since graduate school, when we were told that's the rule; it's a good rule.)

Anyway, I think Mr. Ansari is more aggressive than I ever was dating, but it's not abnormal at all.

See Caitlin Flanagan, at the Atlantic, "The Humiliation of Aziz Ansari."



And here's the piece itself, on "Babe.net", of all places, "I went on a date with Aziz Ansari. It turned into the worst night of my life."

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

This has turned into racial virtue signalling day for the radical left. Here's the New York Times, attacking President Trump, at Memeorandum, "Donald Trump's Racism: The Definitive List."

And WaPo's taking the president to task for golfing, although President Obama golfed all the time, and it was never a problem. At Memorandum, "On MLK Day, President Trump visits Trump golf course."

So, with that, here's President Trump's M.L.K Day greeting. We're lucky we have this president:



Sunday, January 14, 2018

Robyn Lawley Uncovered for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2017 (VIDEO)

Nice.



Death Toll from Montecito Mudslides Rises to 20

This is from yesterday's paper, too true, "Hope fades for those still buried by Montecito mudslide."

And from just a little while ago, at LAT, "Death toll from Montecito mudslides climbs to 20, as authorities continue search for the missing":
The death toll in the Montecito mudslides climbed to 20 on Sunday, as officials continued to work to clear the mud and debris-strewn 101 Freeway, which has been closed indefinitely.

The body of the latest victim, who has not been identified, was discovered as authorities continued to search for several people still missing from the deluge, officials said. At least four other people are still unaccounted for.

On Saturday, search and rescue crews recovered the body of Morgan Corey, 25, who was found in debris near Olive Mill Road about 9 a.m., officials said.

At an afternoon news conference at the Earl Warren Fairgrounds, Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Eric Peterson spoke about the difficulties and challenges faced by emergency responders in their search for survivors.

"I have felt the heartbreak of knowing that even with all of your skill and all of your training and all of your planning, you couldn't save everybody," he said. "No one could have planned for the size and scope of what a 200-year storm immediately following our largest wildfire could bring."

A candlelight vigil for the victims of the mudslide is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday in the sunken gardens area outside the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

CalTrans crews continued to work Sunday to clear a two-mile stretch of the 101 Freeway in Montecito that was initially expected to re-open Monday. But officials said cleaning up one part of the freeway at Olive Mill Road was proving especially difficult.

Aided by private contractors and the Army Corps of Engineers, crews have been working around the clock to clear the freeway, a major north south artery that carries about 100,000 vehicles through the Central Coast each day.

The cleanup is focused on what CalTrans calls "dewatering" — using pumps to suck up the mud and rainwater. Once all the mud and debris is removed, the pavement and overpasses must be evaluated for structural safety, and then signs and guardrails reinstalled and lines repainted.

"It's really an overwhelming situation, and we don't want to give an estimate that isn't accurate," said Colin Jones, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation, said about the freeway re-opening.

In addition to the 101, many local roads are blocked. Santa Barbara City Fire Chief Pat McElroy said the big push on Saturday was to clean roads in the Santa Barbara and Montecito areas in order to improve vehicular access.

"As it stands, we're still having to go in on foot in many areas," he said.

State Route 192, which cuts across the foothills, is also unsafe in places, and officials are trying to establish an alternative route as soon as possible.

With the 101 closed, hundreds of people have taken to traveling the coast by boat. Two sightseeing companies, Island Packers in Ventura and Condor Express in Santa Barbara, have worked together to turn their vessels into a ferry service between the cities.

Tickets on the Condor Express, a 75-foot catamaran that normally takes tourists whale watching, were in high demand last week, with many trips packed with the maximum 127 passengers, assistant manager Katie Fitts said.

The 90-minute trip over the water was significantly shorter than the more than four-hour detour on the 5 Freeway, and ferry passengers included firefighters, city workers and medical personnel from Cottage Hospital, she said.

"There are people trying to get to their families that have been struck by this tragedy and people trying to get to work … surgeons and nurses," Fitts said...
More at that top link.

New History of the Ukrainian Famine

This is Sophie Pinkham's review of Anne Applebaum's Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine. It's really good, dang!

(Pinkham's the author of Black Square: Adventures in Post-Soviet Ukraine.)

At the Nation, "The Candle of Memory":
In 1928, Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union had a food problem. Because of policies that gave farmers little incentive to sell their grain, the state could no longer feed the urban population. Stalin became convinced that counterrevolutionary “kulaks”—a mostly imaginary class of fat-cat capitalist peasants—were hoarding grain. He ordered requisitions that angered the peasants and discouraged production, leading to further grain shortages, which in turn were followed by even more requisitions. Stalin had quickly made his own suspicions come true: Peasants began to hoard and hide grain—in protest and as a means of survival.

In response to this crisis, the Communist Party’s Central Committee decided to collectivize agriculture in 1929. Collective farms were to function like state-owned agricultural factories, with peasant farmers transmogrified into workers. The fantasy was that scientific innovations would vastly improve productivity, providing bountiful food for the cities, with plenty left over to export in exchange for the hard currency needed for rapid industrialization.

Though some high-ranking members of the party (notably Nikolai Bukharin) opposed forced collectivization, Stalin chose to employ the most coercive and violent methods available to him. He began by having millions of “kulaks” deported to distant collective farms, depriving them of the ties to community that would aid them in a rebellion. Many peasants chose to destroy their crops and slaughter their livestock rather than turn them over to the state; some of the more religious ones came to believe that the Soviet Antichrist was ringing in the end of the world. Others, more accurately, saw collectivization as a form of “second serfdom.” Peasants lynched and murdered Soviet officials and volunteers in charge of collectivization.

The result of Stalin’s policies was a man-made famine of terrifying scale. By the spring of 1932, peasants in the grain-growing districts of Ukraine, the northern Caucasus, the Volga region, and western Siberia were starving. Applebaum draws on oral testimonies and memoirs that offer a vivid look into the transformations wrought by famine. One Ukrainian survivor described his brother as “alive but completely swollen, his body shining as if it were made of glass.” An activist from Russia remembered Ukrainian children looking “all alike: their heads like heavy kernels, their necks skinny as a stork’s…the skin itself like yellow gauze stretched over their skeletons.” Some parents abandoned or even killed their children, unable to bear watching them starve to death. There were instances of cannibalism, usually necrophagia. Though this horror was the result of Soviet policy, the police arrested those who succumbed to it. Applebaum quotes a Polish woman who wrote in her gulag memoir about being transferred to a prison island populated by “Ukrainian cannibals”:
They described how their children died of hunger, and how they themselves, very close to starvation, cooked the corpses of their own children and ate them. This happened when they were in a state of shock caused by hunger. Later, when they came to understand what had happened, they lost their minds.
People died in the streets, and no one had the strength to bury them. Peasants were forbidden to enter the cities in search of food, and the areas most affected, including Ukraine, were closed off. Policemen and party activists searched village households and confiscated any remaining animals or food they saw, even crusts of bread. Harsh penalties—execution or 10 years’ hard labor—were imposed for any kind of theft. By the end of 1932, less than six months after the new law had been passed, 4,500 people had been executed for violating it, and more than 100,000 had received 10-year sentences.

Party members, ordinary people, and cultural figures like the author Mikhail Sholokhov wrote to Stalin, describing the horrendous situation and imploring him to help. Moscow party boss Martemyan Ryutin released an opposition platform denouncing the Soviet leader and aggressively criticizing coercive collectivization and the anti-kulak terror; he and his family were soon arrested and executed. Members of the Ukrainian Communist Party pleaded with Stalin to lower the quotas and provide food aid; some quit in protest. Many paid for these protests with their lives, and others committed suicide.

In May of 1933, the Soviet authorities finally approved substantial food aid, sent in workers to help bring in the harvest, stopped the arrests of peasants (in part because the prisons and camps were overflowing), and ended the policy of food confiscation. Grain quotas were reduced. But the damage done was almost unimaginable: Between 1931 and 1934, at least 5 million people starved to death across the Soviet Union...
RTWT.

CNN's Alisyn Camerota Starts Bawling on Live TV During Coverage of President Trump's Comments (VIDEO)

I guess tears-on-demand is one of the more genuine measures of leftist virtue signalling. (*SMH.*)



Jennifer Delacruz's Sunday Weather

It was 19 degrees at game time in Pittsburgh this morning, but it's sure nice in Southern California.

Here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer from last night:



Britney Spears Yellow Bikini on Vacation in Hawaii (PHOTOS)

At Egotastic!:


Doutzen Kroes on Vacation

At Taxi Driver, "Doutzen Kroes Caught Topless on Vacation."

Those sneaky paparazzi photographer, heh.

BONUS: From Christmas 2016:


Friday, January 12, 2018

REPORT: President Trump Lawyer Allegedly Paid $130,000 to Silence Former Porn Star Stormy Daniels Over Sexual Encounter; Daniels Denies

Isn't this where it's all headed, really?

I mean, how many Hollywood moguls, movie stars, and film icons have to be thrown under the #MeToo bus before the biggest prize is captured? I mean, c'mon, we learned a week or so ago that Democrat operatives were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to accusers of the president. Now we have a top-tier media report alleging that porn stars were paid off for their silence? And you've got a smiling photo with President Trump and the former adult star Ms. Stormy?

Oh boy, it's been a busy news day.

Stormy Daniels denies the allegations, at least according to this screen-cap of a letter on Twitter and as reported at the New York Post:


And see WSJ, "Trump Lawyer Arranged $130,000 Payment for Adult-Film Star’s Silence" (and Memeorandum):

A lawyer for President Donald Trump arranged a $130,000 payment to a former adult-film star a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.

Michael Cohen, who spent nearly a decade as a top attorney at the Trump Organization, arranged payment to the woman, Stephanie Clifford, in October 2016 after her lawyer negotiated the nondisclosure agreement with Mr. Cohen, these people said.

Ms. Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, has privately alleged the encounter with Mr. Trump took place after they met at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, these people said. Mr. Trump married Melania Trump in 2005.

Mr. Trump faced other allegations during his campaign of inappropriate behavior with women, and vehemently denied them. In this matter, there is no allegation of a nonconsensual interaction.

“These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election,” a White House official said, responding to the allegation of a sexual encounter involving Mr. Trump and Ms. Clifford. The official declined to respond to questions about an agreement with Ms. Clifford. It isn’t known whether Mr. Trump was aware of any agreement or payment involving her.

In a statement, Mr. Cohen didn’t address the $130,000 payment but said of the alleged sexual encounter that “President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels.”

Mr. Cohen added in the statement, addressed to The Wall Street Journal: “This is now the second time that you are raising outlandish allegations against my client. You have attempted to perpetuate this false narrative for over a year; a narrative that has been consistently denied by all parties since at least 2011.”

The Journal previously reported that Ms. Clifford, 38 years old, had been in talks with ABC’s “Good Morning America” in the fall of 2016 about an appearance to discuss Mr. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. In that article, the Journal reported the company that owns the National Enquirer agreed to pay $150,000 to a former Playboy centerfold model three months before the election for her story of an affair a decade earlier with the Republican presidential nominee, which the tabloid newspaper didn’t publish. The company said she was paid to write fitness columns and appear on magazine covers.

Mr. Cohen also sent a two-paragraph statement by email addressed “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN” and signed by “Stormy Daniels” denying that she had a “sexual and/or romantic affair” with Mr. Trump.

“Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false,” the statement said.

Ms. Clifford didn’t respond to multiple emails seeking comment.

After the agreement, Ms. Clifford’s camp complained the payment wasn’t being made quickly enough and threatened to cancel the deal, some of the people familiar with the matter said.

The payment was made to Ms. Clifford through her lawyer in the matter, Keith Davidson, with funds sent to Mr. Davidson’s client-trust account at City National Bank in Los Angeles, according to the people.

“I previously represented Ms. Daniels,” Mr. Davidson said, referring to Ms. Clifford’s stage name. “Attorney-client privilege prohibits me from commenting on my clients’ legal matters.”

A spokeswoman for City National Bank declined to comment.

The agreement with Ms. Clifford came as the Trump campaign confronted allegations from numerous women who described unwanted sexual advances and alleged assaults by Mr. Trump...
Still more.

The 'Lowest Day' of Trump's Presidency (VIDEO)

It's Lou Dobbs and Ann Coulter, two of the right-wing media's biggest anti-immigration hardliners. (Remember Dobbs was fired from CNN for his comments on illegal immigrants.)

I mentioned the other night that folks like Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingraham weren't going to let the president slide on amnesty, and Coulter's arguing for the death of this presidency, right now. Watch:



CNN Talking Heads Have Completely Lost It Over President Trump's 'Shithole Countries'

I've blogged this story already, "President Trump Asked Why We Should Take Immigrants from 'Shithole Countries'," and "African Nations Angry as President Trump Disses 'Shithole Countries' (VIDEO)."

Just now I checked CNN's YouTube page to see if any of their people were actually saying "shithole countries" on the air last night. So far I've only seen Anderson Cooper use the word (at the video below), although I did catch Ana Navarro literally lose her shit over the president's "shithole" remarks.

This is unreal.

At the link, "Navarro: No other way to interpret Trump's comments." (She's wearing an "I Am An Immigrant" t-shirt on the air as well, which of course provides BIG credibility to her vicious unhinged rant, sheesh.)

And watch Mr. Anderson practically start bawling on air, signalling his virtue about how he just loves all those poor Haitians down there. (*Eye-rolls.*)


Rhian Sugden for Obsessive Lingerie

On Twitter:


African Nations Angry as President Trump Disses 'Shithole Countries' (VIDEO)

Following-up, "President Trump Asked Why We Should Take Immigrants from 'Shithole Countries'."

At CBS This Morning, Debora Patta, in Johannesburg, South Africa, refers to "expletive" countries.


President Trump Asked Why We Should Take Immigrants from 'Shithole Countries'

I don't know sometimes. All the problems in the world and the biggest political blowout is whether or not the president actually said "shithole countries."

I broke my boycott of television news this morning, as I was getting my son ready for school at 7:00am, and tuned into CBS This Morning. They led with it, although they would not say "shithole" on the air, with the generic "expletive" countries used in instead. Hilariously, though, now the Washington Post is having to defend itself for actually using "shithole" in it's coverage.

I guarantee you the president knows what he's doing. Stable genius indeed.

At WaPo, via Memeorandum, "Trump attacks protections for immigrants from ‘shithole’ countries in Oval Office meeting."

And at the New York Times, "Trump Alarms Lawmakers With Disparaging Words for Haiti and Africa."


Handcuffed Lucy

Yum Lucy Pinder!



Drunken Steplinks

At Drunken Stepfather, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY."

Also, at Director Blue, "Larwyn's Linx: The DOJ and FBI Worked With Fusion GPS on “Operation Trump”."

And at Maggie's Farm, "Friday morning links."

BONUS: At the Other McCain, "Democrats Love ‘S***hole’ Countries, and They Want America to Become One."



Thursday, January 11, 2018

'Darkest Hour'

Well, I kept my promise and bumped out for a bit to take in "The Darkest Hour." I'm delightfully pleased. It's far from the greatest or near greatest war (or war-ish) film, but next to Daniel Day Lewis in "Lincoln," it's the best biographical portrait of a democratic leader ever.

I read a half dozen reviews right now, and you can check Google yourself if you wish. Here's the New York Times' rather harsh take, "Review: ‘Darkest Hour,’ or the Great Man Theory of History (and Acting)," and Kenneth Turan's, at the Los Angeles Times, "Gary Oldman's bulldog performance as Winston Churchill lifts Joe Wright's overwrought directing in 'Darkest Hour'."

I definitely recommend it. Indeed, a day of great movie-watching would be to watch this one right after "Dunkirk." I love the populist moral clarity here, which is what A.O. Scott at NYT attacks. Indeed, I mostly go to the flicks for exactly this heroic patriotic fare.



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.

See especially, Precor EFX 222 Energy Series Elliptical Cross Trainer.

Also, Gnarly Nutrition Whey Sports Protein - All Natural New Zealand Grass Fed Whey Protein (Chiseled Chocolate).

More, Odoland Snow Ski Goggles S2 Double Lens Anti-fog Windproof UV400 Eyewear - Skiing, Snowboarding, Motorcycle Cycling and Snowmobile Winter Outdoor Sports Protective Glasses.

And, Davenport Leather Backpack.

Plus, UGG Women's Classic Cuff Short Winter Boot.

Still more, Ray-Ban Men's 0RB4165 Justin Sunglasses.

Here, CLIF BAR - Energy Bar - Blueberry Crisp - (2.4-Ounce Protein Bar, 12 Count).

Finally, Samsung Curved 55" 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2017 Model) - UN55MU6500 w/ TV Cut The Cord Bundle Includes, Durable HDTV & FM Antenna, 2x 6ft. High Speed HDMI Cable & Screen Cleaner for LED TVs.

BONUS: Ernest Hemingway, Islands in the Stream.


Arctic Doomsday Bunker

I need a doomsday bunker to survive the radical leftist apocalypse in California, sheesh.

At the Daily Mirror U.K.:


Kendall Jenner for Harper's Bazaar

She's a sensation.


Sensational Rosie Huntington-Whiteley After Giving Birth

At the Irish Sun, "Rosie Huntington-Whiteley looks sensational as she shows off her post-baby body in bikinis on a photoshoot in the Bahamas."

She's married to Jason Statham, the lucky dawg, lol.


Also, at Taxi Driver, "Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Breast Exposed on a Photo Shoot."

Madison Beer Flashes Perky Underboob

At Taxi Driver, "Madison Beer Steps Out Flaunting her Perky Underboob."

And at Hawt Celebs, "Madison Beer for Nude Magazine – April 2017."

BONUS: At Egotastic!, ".@MadisonBeer = Boobtastic."

Laura Ingraham Warns Trump: You Promised a Border Wall, Not an 'Opaque Electric Fence' (VIDEO)

The problem for me is that even if Trump gets his wall, a DACA deal with the Democrats won't pay off at the ballot box. I doubt many leftist voters will switch over and vote GOP just because Trump caved to political correctness. Leftists won't see Trump as compassionate. They hate him with the heat of a million suns. That's just fact. Playing to the base has been the key to winning for this president, and he risks alienating those voters. I don't know if independents will give him credit. We'll see. Some conservatives like Lori Hendry and Linda Suhler will stick with Trump no matter what, but movement media conservatives like Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and Michelle Malkin won't be pleased. They'll excoriate the president on this issue, and rightly so.

In any case, here's Ms. Laura, from her show last night:


'New Rose'

Since The Sound L.A. went off the air my drive time music listening has become decidedly more eclectic. I guess that's good, because for all of The Sound's greatness (and it was especially great from the point of view of building a fanatically loyal radio-listening community), the weekday 9-5 playlist was actually pretty boring. You heard super popular hard rock hits all day long, with very few off-beat or underground songs (songs you would hear, though, on the weekends, at the odd hours of the day, or during special programming).

So yesterday I had KLOS 95.5 on while doodling around town, and a little before I came home I listened to Guns & Roses' "New Rose," which is a cover of The Damned's original hit punk rock single "New Rose" which came out in England in 1976, when I was in 10th grade.

So, yes, KLOS does have a bit more diverse daytime programming that The Sound used to have. In fact, it turns out that Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones has a daily two-hour show on the station, from Noon to 2:00pm, called Jonesy's Jukebox, which is hilarious because he literally does "whatever he wants."

So, change is good, as they say.

Here's Guns & Roses:


Victoria
The Kinks
12:33

New Rose
Guns N' Roses
12:25 PM

Miss You
The Rolling Stones
11:57 AM

Urgent
Foreigner
11:52 AM

Learn to Fly
Foo Fighters
11:49 AM

All Along the Watchtower
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
11:44 AM

Comfortably Numb
Pink Floyd
11:38 AM

RLRP_SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY (BONO)
U2
11:33 AM

You Give Love a Bad Name
Bon Jovi
11:29 AM

Man In the Box
Alice In Chains
11:25 AM

Hangman Jury
Aerosmith
11:10 AM

Changes
David Bowie
11:06 AM

Pour Some Sugar On Me
Def Leppard


'No, You Move...'

Seen on Twitter in August, upping it now, in case I haven't upped it, lol.


Fast and Sexy

Seen earlier:


Winston Churchill's Brevity

I'm hoping to go see "Darkest Hour" today, so in the spirit of things:


Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Montecito Cellphone Emergency Alerts Didn't Go Out Until After Mudslides Began

Here's the story, at LAT, "Emergency cellphone alerts didn't go out until after mudslides began in Montecito."

I just had to post a screen-cap of the mudslides: Man, that's up to the rooftops.

From the article:
It's unclear how many people would have heeded an emergency evacuation order had it been issued earlier in Montecito. Numerous residents said they knew about the mudslide risk from warnings but decided to stay in their homes anyway. Some said that after fleeing from fire in December, they doubted the rains would pose much of a risk.

David Cradduck, 66, was one of many people in his Montecito neighborhood who stayed.

"I think all of us have learned our lessons on this one. We were all bad children and ignored the warning," he said.

After the fires, some said they had disaster fatigue.




The #MeToo Movement Has Become a War on Men

Following-up from Monday, "The #MeToo Moment Has Now Morphed Into a Moral Panic That Poses as Much Danger to Women as it Does to Men."

Here's Heather Mac Donald's take on the #MeToo moment, at City Journal, "Too Close for Comfort":
The #MeToo movement may have begun as a justified backlash against grotesque predatory behavior and its institutional support, but, predictably, it soon evolved into a war on men and a moral panic over the male libido. Sexual harassment has become an infinitely expandable concept to take down difficult leaders, but history has been made by driven males; they created casualties aplenty but left the rest of us with art, intellectual advances, and the exploration of the unknown. The #MeToo movement will result in a new wave of quotas for females and the marginalization of men. No amount of political and social reengineering, however, will solve the problem of taming and integrating Eros in a world that denies male-female differences.
RTWT.

That phrase "moral panic" keeps cropping up. I think it's going to stick.

Toni Garrn on the Beach

She's a beauty!

At London's Daily Mail, "Sending temperatures soaring! Toni Garrn goes completely TOPLESS as she catches rays during sun-soaked getaway to Hawaii."

And at Taxi Driver, "Toni Garrn Topless on the Beach."


Danielle Gersh's Storm Watch Forecast

I lived up in Santa Barbara for 7 and a half years. It's an epicenter of natural and weather-related disasters.

And that's to say nothing of L.A. County, which is currently under all kinds of emergency mudslide warnings as well.

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



Many Montecito Residents Ignored Warnings, Stayed in Their Homes Until It Was Too Late (VIDEO)

I don't know? I don't think I'd want to leave either. But after the worst wildfires in state history, folks in the area had to know the worst flooding ever was imminent. They just had to know. And now look at the death toll: at least fifteen killed and rescue personnel still looking for survivors.

Previously, "101 Freeway in Montecito Buried Under Tons of Mud and Debris."

And more, at LAT, "Many in Montecito ignored mudslide warnings — until it was too late."


And at KSBY Santa Barbara News 6:



101 Freeway in Montecito Buried Under Tons of Mud and Debris

The freeway up there is four lanes, two heading north and two heading south. It's got both a rural feel to it and a coastal feel. Sometimes the ocean views break through while you're driving through tufts and boughs of old growth trees. It's some of the most scenic coastline in the state. And now the freeway there is just buried, and bad!

At the Los Angeles Times, "101 Freeway, buried under tons of mud and debris, remains closed."


Ralph Peters on the North Korean Nuclear Crisis and Diplomatic Negotiations (VIDEO)

Well, his analysis is right on, but I was drawn to his very dapper attire. I don't recall Colonel Peters ever looking this sharp, heh!

(I love that spread collar, his tie and knot, and the soft-shoulders on his suit. Nice color coordination as well. Very sharp indeed.)

With Sandra Smith on Fox News:



Wave of Republican Congressional Retirements in California

A year ago I would have thought the GOP had a strong chance to retain the House this year.

Not now.

Too much has happened, and with this wave of GOP retirements in Congress, Democrats have got to be fired up for massive gains in the November elections. This is more than tsunami territory, as far as I can see. This is going to be an earthquake with world shattering implications. Worlds are colliding!

Roll Call called it in September, "House Retirement Tide Is Coming."

Ed Royce of Buena Park announced he was retiring on Monday. And now today we have the news of Darrell Issa's retirement. These two aren't noobs. They're powerful GOP congressional veterans. Plus, Royce has a huge war chest of over $3 million in the bank, and Issa's independently wealthy --- so campaign finance isn't the issue. It's two things: (1) Donald Trump's iconoclastic presidency has shaken up American politics and many Republicans will be the target of ire as surrogates for all kinds of voter disenchantment with politics, and (2) California's formerly solid Republican majority in Orange County is history. Both Royce and Issa are running in districts that Hillary Clinton won, and while Royce won reelection in 2016 with 57 percent of the vote, Issa won just 50.3 percent and is considered the most vulnerable Republican in Congress.

California's a one-party Democrat state. It's a basket-case state, for that matter. Conservatives talking about a right-wing or populist rebellion in the once-Golden State are deluding themselves. Cast off the dead weight and fight battles elsewhere. As noted many times, I'd move out of state if I could right now, but I've got at least 10 more years at my job. I'll be thinking about greener, more conservative/libertarian pastures over the next few years, and then we'll see...

In any case, at the Los Angeles Times, "Rep. Darrell Issa to retire."

And more at Roll Call, "Darrell Issa Retiring, Opening Up Competitive House Seat."

More at Memorandum.

The Truth Behind Female Orgasam

Is this even "news you can use"?

I don't know?

Maybe Maxim's hurting for traffic, because some of the stuff they post over there is truly bizarre. If it get clicks I guess it's a go?

See, "SCIENTISTS AND PORN STARS REVEAL THE TRUTH BEHIND FEMALE EJACULATION: What does it mean when she squirts?"

Alessandra Ambrosio January Bonus! (VIDEO)

For LOVE Advent:



Hannah Ferguson Uncovered Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 (VIDEO)

Flashback: "Hannah Ferguson takes you behind the scenes of what she had deemed the best photo shoot 'of her entire career' in 2016."



The Weeknd Says Goodbye to H&M Over Racist 'Monkey' Sweatshirt Advertisement

This is the most un-'woke' thing ever --- and it's in the supposedly 'woke' fashion industry, man.

At USA Today, "Seriously: The Weeknd says goodbye to H&M over 'monkey' sweatshirt ad."


Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Danielle Gersh's Dangerous Rain Forecast

It's going to be a rough day in SoCal.

See the Los Angeles Times, "At least 5 dead as heavy rains trigger flooding, mudflows and freeway closures across Southern California."

Here's Ms. Danielle:



Tua Tagovailoa

I was thinking about this guy this morning. Stunning isn't enough to describe this guy's play, his impact. What a game.


Something to Make Your Day

This is truly the best thing I've seen on Twitter in a long time:


Devin Brugman Workout

That how she keeps that bikini body in shape!


Nice Abs

Heh:


James Damore Sues Google, Alleging Discrimination Against White Male Conservatives

This is mind boggling. Jordan Peterson highlights the legal documents last night, and see the Guardian's report as well (FWIW):


Oldest McDonald's Restaurant

It's at Lakewood Boulevard and Florence Avenue in Downey. I drove by last week when I was going over to Pico Rivera to shop for used books. Amazing. Turns out there's a museum on site as well.


Tomi Lahren on California's Sanctuary State Laws

On Hannity from last night:



Monday, January 8, 2018

San Francisco's 'State of Emergency' for Black Students

I'm doodling around online and was looking at articles about the failure of progressive education models, and this piece came up at RealClearEducation.

Remember, this is the most progressive city in the state, and this whole state is supposedly progressive, run by so-called progressive Democrats in Sacramento. But everywhere you look, it's failure all the way down for impoverished minorities.

It's really sad, when you think about it.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Inside the fight over how to address San Francisco's 'state of emergency' for black student achievement":


Black students in San Francisco would be better off almost anywhere else in California.

Many attend segregated schools and the majority of black, Latino and Pacific Islander students did not reach grade-level standards on the state's recent tests in math or English tests.

A local NAACP leader called for declaring a "state of emergency" for black student achievement, a problem the city's school board acknowledged. "The problem cannot be reduced to one sickness or one cure," said Rev. Amos C. Brown, San Francisco's NAACP branch president. "Black students have been underachievers. They're living in toxic situations. It's amazing they've done as well as they have done, but it's criminal that sophisticated children in progressive San Francisco are performing at these levels."

But is the solution to fix what's broken, or to start schools anew? Answering that question has unveiled a heated political debate in Northern California.

The district's strategy targets changing instruction, hiring, school culture and instilling the belief that all kids can learn. Vincent Matthews, San Francisco Unified School District's superintendent since May, is expected to present a detailed strategy for improvement early in the new year. An opposing plan from a controversial nonprofit called Innovate Public Schools calls for starting new schools — traditional public or charter — from scratch.

For decades, San Franciscans have called attention to the achievement gap. Following an NAACP lawsuit regarding discrimination, the city entered into a 1983 consent decree mandating desegregation. Since then, the district has changed its school assignment rules.

More recently, a group of organizers from Innovate, which has brought some charter schools to the San Francisco Bay Area and receives money from the Walton Family Foundation, has been convening parents and calling renewed attention to the problem.

In September, Innovate released a report sounding the alarm on San Francisco's achievement gap — and called for the city to establish new schools as a remedy. Innovate's organizers and parents held a news conference outside City Hall and organized a parent meeting with Matthews.

On the most recent round of tests, 87% of San Francisco Unified's black students performed below standards in math, as did 79% of Latino students and 78% of Pacific Islanders. Ninety-six percent of districts in California that serve black students had better reading scores for low-income black students than San Francisco did, Innovate found. Many minority students attend schools that are highly racially concentrated in neighborhoods such as Bayview-Hunters Point, with high rates of staff turnover and relatively inexperienced teachers.

These factors, according to a recent district report, produce "a form of academic segregation that can be especially hard to overcome."

And after decades of gentrification and displacement by tech workers, black families are moving out: In the 1998-99 school year, black students comprised 16% of SFUSD's students, compared with just under 7% last school year.

Some parents were shocked when they saw these statistics — individually, they knew there were issues, but they didn't realize their problems added up to a larger whole. The poor educational outcomes stand in stark contrast to the reputation the city has built for itself as the country's center of technological innovation.

"It's been broken for a long time," said Geraldine Anderson, a mother of three who saw local schools cut back on hours from one child to the next. "I see IT companies coming to San Francisco and so much money coming in for the city, but our kids won't be able to live here or participate."

Innovate has found advocates in parents struggling to find adequate schooling...
It's criminal. Really. Progressives are criminal. Their policies are criminal. I have to shake my head: Ironically, Marx's idea of "false consciousness" explains how generations of disadvantage minority groups have been brainwashed to believe that leftist-Democrat institutions and leaders are protecting and promoting their best interests. Mind-boggling. Man.

More.


The #MeToo Moment Has Now Morphed Into a Moral Panic That Poses as Much Danger to Women as it Does to Men

I might or might not blog about the epic Hollywood hypocrisy of the Golden Globes last night.

In the meantime, here's Claire Berlinski, at the American Interest, "The Warlock Hunt":

Recently I saw a friend—a man—pilloried on Facebook for asking if #metoo is going too far. “No,” said his female interlocutors. “Women have endured far too many years of harassment, humiliation, and injustice. We’ll tell you when it’s gone too far.” But I’m part of that “we,” and I say it is going too far. Mass hysteria has set in. It has become a classic moral panic, one that is ultimately as dangerous to women as to men.

If you are reading this, it means I have found an outlet that has not just fired an editor for sexual harassment. This article circulated from publication to publication, like old-fashioned samizdat, and was rejected repeatedly with a sotto voce, “Don’t tell anyone. I agree with you. But no.” Friends have urged me not to publish it under my own name, vividly describing the mob that will tear me from limb to limb and leave the dingoes to pick over my flesh. It says something, doesn’t it, that I’ve been more hesitant to speak about this than I’ve been of getting on the wrong side of the mafia, al-Qaeda, or the Kremlin?

But speak I must. It now takes only one accusation to destroy a man’s life. Just one for him to be tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion, overnight costing him his livelihood and social respectability. We are on a frenzied extrajudicial warlock hunt that does not pause to parse the difference between rape and stupidity. The punishment for sexual harassment is so grave that clearly this crime—like any other serious crime—requires an unambiguous definition. We have nothing of the sort.

In recent weeks, one after another prominent voice, many of them political voices, have been silenced by sexual harassment charges. Not one of these cases has yet been adjudicated in a court of law. Leon Wieseltier, David Corn, Mark Halperin, Michael Oreskes, Al Franken, Ken Baker, Rick Najera, Andy Signore, Jeff Hoover, Matt Lauer, even Garrison Keillor—all have received the professional death sentence. Some of the charges sound deadly serious. But others—as reported anyway—make no sense. I can’t say whether the charges against these men are true; I wasn’t under the bed. But even if true, some have been accused of offenses that aren’t offensive, or offenses that are only mildly so—and do not warrant total professional and personal destruction.

The things men and women naturally do—flirt, play, lewdly joke, desire, seduce, tease—now become harassment only by virtue of the words that follow the description of the act, one of the generic form: “I froze. I was terrified.” It doesn’t matter how the man felt about it. The onus to understand the interaction and its emotional subtleties falls entirely on him. But why? Perhaps she should have understood his behavior to be harmless—clumsy, sweet but misdirected, maladroit, or tacky—but lacking in malice sufficient to cost him such arduous punishment?

In recent weeks, I’ve acquired new powers. I have cast my mind over the ways I could use them. I could now, on a whim, destroy the career of an Oxford don who at a drunken Christmas party danced with me, grabbed a handful of my bum, and slurred, “I’ve been dying to do this to Berlinski all term!” That is precisely what happened. I am telling the truth. I will be believed—as I should be.

But here is the thing. I did not freeze, nor was I terrified. I was amused and flattered and thought little of it. I knew full well he’d been dying to do that. Our tutorials—which took place one-on-one, with no chaperones—were livelier intellectually for that sublimated undercurrent. He was an Oxford don and so had power over me, sensu stricto. I was a 20-year-old undergraduate. But I also had power over him — power sufficient to cause a venerable don to make a perfect fool of himself at a Christmas party. Unsurprisingly, I loved having that power. But now I have too much power. I have the power to destroy someone whose tutorials were invaluable to me and shaped my entire intellectual life much for the better. This is a power I do not want and should not have.

Over the course of my academic and professional career, many men who in some way held a position of power over me have made lewd jokes in my presence, or reminisced drunkenly of past lovers, or confessed sexual fantasies. They have hugged me, flirted with me, on occasion propositioned me. For the most part, this male attention has amused me and given me reason to look forward to otherwise dreary days at work. I dread the day I lose my power over men, which I have used to coax them to confide to me on the record secrets they would never have vouchsafed to a male journalist. I did not feel “demeaned” by the realization that some men esteemed my cleavage more than my talent; I felt damned lucky to have enough talent to exploit my cleavage.

But what if I now feel differently? What if—perhaps moved by the testimony of the many women who have come forward in recent weeks—I were to realize that the ambient sexual culture I meekly accepted as “amusing” was in fact repulsive and loathsome? What if I now realize it did me great emotional damage, harm so profound that only now do I recognize it?

Apparently, some women feel precisely this way. Natalie Portman, for example, has re-examined her life in light of the recent news...
She's a great writer.

Hard to pin down ideologically, though, interestingly. She's been a pretty vocal critic of President Trump but on many issues you'd think she was a neocon culture warrior.

Smart lady. And a knockout with that blonde hairdo!

Keep reading.



White House Adviser Stephen Miller Escorted Out After Heated Interview with Jake Tapper on CNN (VIDEO)

This is so lame.

Stephen Miller's a patriot who refused to kowtow to the leftist press. And idiot progressives have already started a campaign to have him banned from television news, to say nothing of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's call to have Miller "removed" from office.

At Free Beacon, "CNN Source: Miller Escorted Out by Security When He Refused to Leave After Heated Tapper Interview."

And watch:



Jennifer Delacruz Rain and Snow Forecast

This is good. We need the precipitation.

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



Sunday, January 7, 2018

Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller, 20, From Portland, Oregon, Became a Viral Sensation After She Took Revenge on Man Who Groped Her Glittered Breasts at Rhythm and Vines Festival on New Year' Eve

The culture these days. *SMH.*

At the Sun U.K., "'THEY'LL MAKE A COMEBACK': ‘Glitter boobs’ woman, 20, who attacked festival groper vows to go topless again and says shaming her ‘promotes rape culture’- Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller vows that the 'glitter t**s will be coming back'."

And watch, "The Glitter Boob Chick Speaks Out on Being Topless Covered in Glitter Getting Boob Grabbed."

Melissa del Bosque, Bloodlines

At Amazon, Melissa del Bosque, Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty.



Yvette Felarca Ordered to Pay $11,000 for Filing Frivolous Civil Harassment Restraining Order

This makes me happy!

At Legal Insurrection, "Antifa Leader Ordered by Judge to Pay $11,000 to College Republicans Leader."

And at Breitbart, "Court Orders Antifa Organizer to Pay $11,000 for Filing Frivolous Restraining Order."



Trump on Twitter Not as Bad as Everyone's Freaking About

From David Gordon and Michael O'Hanlon, at USA Today, "President Trump's Twitter-fueled foreign policy: Not as bad as you might think: Yes, Trump is a maverick and populist. But thanks to him, 2017 witnessed less of a dramatic departure from the norm in foreign policy than has been alleged."

Jennifer Delacruz's Sunday Forecast

It's been cool in the morning, overcast with clearing. And then warm and sunny in the afternoons. I can't complain.

Here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer with more:



Barbara Palvin for LOVE Advent 2017 (VIDEO)

Stunning.



Bori Kreutz

Oooh, who is this amazing woman?!!

At Editorials Fashions Trends, "BORI KREUTZ BY JULIEN LRVR."


Lili Reinhart

I don't know how, but I just came across this piece at Harper's Bazaar, "'Riverdale's Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart Look Adorable on Vacation Together in Hawaii."

I know Cole Sprouse from the old Disney show "The Suite Life," which I used to watch with my kids. I don't know this woman, though. She's beautiful.

They're just kids. Oh, to be young again.


Sarah Silverman's Response to a Twitter Troll

She shows compassion.


Click the blog link for the whole exchange. The key here is the Twitter troll was open to a dialogue with Silverman, and she was able to help him. That's one-in-a-million these days. Most trolls will just keep calling you a cunt and telling you to fuck off.

BONUS: "Nude Scenes: Sarah Silverman - 'I Smile Back'."

Psycho Psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee Declares President Trump Unfit for Office (VIDEO)

They're all psycho, inflicted by Trump Derangement Syndrome.

At Legal Insurrection, "Unable to Defeat Trump at the Polls, Dems Enlist Yale Psych Prof to Diagnose Him Mentally Unfit," and "WATCH: Sarah Sanders Slays Media on Trump Mental Health and Bannon Feud."

Rep. James Raskin at the first video below looks like he stuck his fingers in a light socket. These people are f--king twisted.





Saturday, January 6, 2018

Roger D. Hodge, Texas Blood

At Amazon, Roger D. Hodge, Texas Blood: Seven Generations Among the Outlaws, Ranchers, Indians, Missionaries, Soldiers, and Smugglers of the Borderlands.



California Mounts Resistance to Trump Administration's New Oil Drilling Proposal

California's the center of "The Resistance" against the Trump administration, and more pathetic examples are coming fast and furious since the new year came around.

Another reason to get out of this state as fast as you can (and unfortunately, I can't right now; not until I retire, if then, depending on what my wife wants to do; hopefully we'll bail out for more conservative/libertarian pastures).

In any case, at LAT, "California has many weapons in its arsenal to block new offshore oil drilling":


There are two things working against the Trump administration's proposal to open up California coastal waters to new oil and gas drilling: state regulators and simple economics.

California has powerful legal tools to head off new offshore development, and the price of oil offers little incentive to the energy industry to pursue expensive drilling projects next to a hostile state.

"I don't think there's any reasonable chance that there will be any leasing or drilling along the coast," said Ralph Faust, former general counsel for the California Coastal Commission. "This just seems like grandstanding" by the Trump administration.

The Interior Department on Thursday released plans to open vast areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to new oil and gas exploration and drilling through a five-year leasing program that would begin in 2019.

But there are myriad obstacles opponents can throw in front of the proposal, not to mention questions about whether the oil industry has much of an interest in California's offshore reserves at a time when domestic oil production is at its highest level in decades.

Under the plan, the federal government would offer 47 leases in U.S. waters on the outer continental shelf, including two each off the Northern, Central and Southern California coasts and one off Washington and Oregon.

The governors of all three states issued a joint statement Thursday saying they would do whatever it takes to block new leasing off their shores, which include some of the nation's most pristine coastlines.

The first hurdle for the Trump plan is a period of public comment and an extensive environmental review under federal law, which opponents can use to challenge the proposal as ecologically harmful.

In California, the state coastal commission also has the authority to review activities in federal waters to ensure they are consistent with the state's coastal management plans.

"The commission has extremely broad and very powerful authority to say 'no' to federal actions that would harm the coast of California and harm coastal waters," said Steve Mashuda, an attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization.

The commission is ready to use it.

"Nothing galvanizes bi-partisan resistance in California like the threat of more offshore oil drilling," coastal commission Chairwoman Dayna Bochco said in a statement. "We've fought similar efforts before, and we will fight them again."

While the U.S. Secretary of Commerce could override a commission finding that new oil drilling violated the state's management plan, federal courts have tended to side with states in such contests...
More.


Olympia Valance on the Beach

At the Daily Express, "Neighbours bombshell Olympia Valance goes TOPLESS as she flashes eye-popping assets on the beach in Mykonos."

Also, at Taxi Driver, "Olympia Valance Topless on the Beach."

Karlie Kloss by LOVE Magazine (VIDEO)

She's high fashion.



World Leaders on Twitter

So, @Jack made the right decision for once.

At Fox News, "Twitter won't block world leaders or delete their messages."


Friday, January 5, 2018

Philipp Meyer, American Rust

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Philipp Meyer, American Rust.



Philipp Meyer, The Son

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Philipp Meyer, The Son: A Novel.



Don Winslow, The Cartel

This one's at the top of my list.

At Amazon, Don Winslow, The Cartel.



Bomb Cyclone

The weather's been perfectly fine on the Left Coast. Indeed, now radical leftists are start to scream "drought" all over the place once again. (And that's after last year's record rainfall.)

On the "bomb cyclone," see the Arizona Republic, "Violent 'bomb cyclone' sends high tide to near record levels in downtown Boston; motorists stranded."

And at CBS This Morning:



Sistine Stallone for LOVE Advent (VIDEO)

She's only 19-years-old.