Katie Hopkins, Rude

Out last week.

At Amazon, Katie Hopkins, Rude.

Yanis Varoufakis, Talking to My Daughter About the Economy

At Amazon, Yanis Varoufakis, Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works - and How It Fails.

And a great book review, at L.A.T., "Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis makes capital comprehensible":

One of the more compelling arguments in the book is his explanation of experiential values — a walk on the beach, a dinner with friends — versus exchange values, a commodity that can be sold. "A dive, a sunset, a joke: all can have an enormous amount of experiential value and no exchange value whatsoever." Varoufakis warns, "Anything without a price, anything that can't be sold, tends to be considered worthless, whereas anything with a price, it is thought, will be desirable." Of course, Facebook and other social media outlets have found a way to monetize our family photos, our vacations and our private lives. Now a dive, a sunset, a joke has an exchange value. Does the monetization of everything erode our humanity? "Our market societies manufacture fantastic machines and incredible wealth, astounding poverty and mountainous debts, but at the same time they manufacture the desires and behaviors required in us for its perpetuation." This is where he gets at what's meaningful about human existence and how the economy affects us all.

The economy touches every aspect of our lives and yet we typically leave it to bankers, financiers and economists. Varoufakis sees that as a mistake. "Leaving the economy to experts is the equivalent of those who lived in the Middle Ages entrusting their welfare to the theologians, the cardinals and the Spanish inquisition. It is a terrible idea."

And what about that anger I mentioned at the beginning of this piece? Almost all of the problems enraging people on both sides, Varoufakis says, stem from income inequality, corporate greed and other issues that are deeply embedded in the economy and the perpetuation of the status quo. If we're going to direct our anger toward solving problems, then this book is a good place to start. As Varoufakis says in the prologue, "Ensuring that everyone is allowed to talk authoritatively about the economy is a prerequisite for a good society and a precondition for an authentic democracy."

That authentic democracy is what he's pushing for. He isn't advocating for socialism or the destruction of capitalism. As he says, it doesn't matter which system you use: "All systems of domination work by enveloping us in their narrative and superstitions in such a way that we cannot see beyond them." What he is suggesting is that we take a step back, allowing some distance and humor into our thinking, and channel our anger into creating a market society that is more humane and more equitable, so that the few don't enjoy the wealth of the world at the expense of the many.

RTWT.

Long After Civil War, Spain Searches for Its Fallen

This is pretty fascinating.

Inside the Valley of the Fallen, a search for two brothers killed in the Spanish Civil War https://t.co/RqoYHOpX7E pic.twitter.com/0qQS9mFHpK

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) May 10, 2018

At LAT, "Inside the Valley of the Fallen, a search for two brothers killed in the Spanish Civil War":

In the decades since Francisco Franco's death, the Spanish dictator's colossal Valley of the Fallen mausoleum has stood untouched in the rolling countryside outside Madrid, guarded by a towering cross.

Run as an abbey by Benedictine monks on a site owned by the state, Franco's monument has survived Spain's transition to democracy, socialist governments and a host of experts pressing to remove the generalissimo's body and turn the mausoleum into a modern museum for a democratic era.

Above all, the site has remained beyond the reach of families hoping to retrieve the remains of relatives they never wanted buried there alongside the dictator and the bodies of more than 33,000 victims of the brutal civil war he started.

Until now.

Late last month, the first beams of light illuminated the vaults that hold the dead as a team of structural engineering experts entered an ossuary in search of the bodies of two men — Manuel Lapeña, a leftist union leader and father of four, and his brother Antonio. Both were executed by Franco's forces in Aragon during the first days of the civil war in the summer of 1936.

"It is a place beyond the bounds of democracy," said Eduardo Ranz, the lawyer who represents the Lapeña family and others attempting to claim the remains of eight other men buried in the crypt of the Valley of the Fallen's basilica.

"There is no other monument in the world like it, celebrating the victory of one group from the same nationality over another," Ranz said. "The victors stole the very identity of the defeated."

The mausoleum was built in part by political prisoners in the decades after the 1939 civil war victory of the general's Nationalist faction. Over the years, thousands of war dead — Nationalists and Republicans alike — were unearthed from graves across Spain and interred, often anonymously, in the basilica, an apparent attempt to bring the nation together.

Only a third of the 33,847 dead who rest with Franco in his mausoleum are named on their tombs. The rest are stacked in ossuaries inside vaults that have deteriorated over the decades. Identifying the remains is a daunting task, and the relatives' best hope now rests on a report being prepared by the state institution National Heritage after last month's exploration, in which the viability of identifying and safely removing remains will be assessed.

Whatever the answer, relatives such as Purificacion Lapeña, the granddaughter of the executed unionist, are determined to keep fighting, spurred on by a 2016 civil court ruling that ordered the Lapeña brothers to be exhumed.

Like others, Purificacion Lapeña is driven by the fear that time is running out for people such as her 94-year-old father, Manuel Lapeña, who wants to bury his father alongside his mother in Zaragoza, their hometown in Spain's northeast. As it stands, Manuel Lapeña said his father is "interred alongside his killer, Franco, the greatest criminal."

In 2011, a commission of experts recommended to Spain's parliament that Franco's remains be removed and the Valley of the Fallen be transformed into a depoliticized memorial site. But the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy ignored the recommendations and derailed the previous, socialist administration's efforts to allow relatives to dig up more than 100,000 Republican victims of Spain's civil war-era repression from mass graves dotted around the country. The church too has shown resistance to freeing the dead. The Benedictine abbot in charge of the basilica opposed the court ruling ordering the search for the Lapeña brothers' remains...

More.

French Fashion Model Chloé Nicolas

At Editorials Fashion Trends, "Chloé Nicolas by Guillaume Gaubert."

She's on Instagram.

Dana Loesch: The U.S. Keeps Winning Under Trump Administration's Foreign Policy (VIDEO)

This is great. It's all great. Democrats are not great, of course, and they're hating it.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 'Rookie of the Year' Alexis Ren (VIDEO)

She's amazing.

Did the F.B.I. Spy on Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign?

From the inimitable Kim Strassel, at WSJ, "About That FBI ‘Source’: Did the bureau engage in outright spying against the 2016 Trump campaign?":

The Department of Justice lost its latest battle with Congress Thursday when it agreed to brief House Intelligence Committee members about a top-secret intelligence source that was part of the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign. Even without official confirmation of that source’s name, the news so far holds some stunning implications.

Among them is that the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation outright hid critical information from a congressional investigation. In a Thursday press conference, Speaker Paul Ryan bluntly noted that Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes’s request for details on this secret source was “wholly appropriate,” “completely within the scope” of the committee’s long-running FBI investigation, and “something that probably should have been answered a while ago.” Translation: The department knew full well it should have turned this material over to congressional investigators last year, but instead deliberately concealed it.

House investigators nonetheless sniffed out a name, and Mr. Nunes in recent weeks issued a letter and a subpoena demanding more details. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s response was to double down—accusing the House of “extortion” and delivering a speech in which he claimed that “declining to open the FBI’s files to review” is a constitutional “duty.” Justice asked the White House to back its stonewall. And it even began spinning that daddy of all superspook arguments—that revealing any detail about this particular asset could result in “loss of human lives.”

This is desperation, and it strongly suggests that whatever is in these files is going to prove very uncomfortable to the FBI.

The bureau already has some explaining to do. Thanks to the Washington Post’s unnamed law-enforcement leakers, we know Mr. Nunes’s request deals with a “top secret intelligence source” of the FBI and CIA, who is a U.S. citizen and who was involved in the Russia collusion probe. When government agencies refer to sources, they mean people who appear to be average citizens but use their profession or contacts to spy for the agency. Ergo, we might take this to mean that the FBI secretly had a person on the payroll who used his or her non-FBI credentials to interact in some capacity with the Trump campaign.

This would amount to spying, and it is hugely disconcerting. It would also be a major escalation from the electronic surveillance we already knew about, which was bad enough. Obama political appointees rampantly “unmasked” Trump campaign officials to monitor their conversations, while the FBI played dirty with its surveillance warrant against Carter Page, failing to tell the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that its supporting information came from the Hillary Clinton campaign. Now we find it may have also been rolling out human intelligence, John Le Carré style, to infiltrate the Trump campaign...

More.

And at Instapundit, "WALL STREET JOURNAL: About That FBI ‘Source:’ Did the Bureau engage in outright spying against the 2016 Trump campaign?":

I don’t think the FBI is being straight. I’m speculating, of course, but I think it’s going to turn out that they were spying on Trump from surprisingly early on, and that they didn’t expect him to win, and that when he did win, the Russian “collusion” thing was hyped up as a smokescreen.

Keep reading.

ICYMI: Salena Zito and Brad Todd, The Great Revolt

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Salena Zito and Brad Todd, The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics.

AnnaLynne McCord on Twitter

Here's the headline at Drunken Stepfather, "ANNA LYNNE MCCORD PUSSY PRINT OF THE DAY."

And on Twitter:

“Every 🌹 has its thorns...” pic.twitter.com/KV7NGkw8i5

— AnnaLynne McCord (@IAMannalynnemcc) May 11, 2018

Blake Lively Out for Coffee in New York City

At the Nip Slip, "Blake Lively Braless While Getting Coffee!"

Stunning Diana Georgie

At Maxim:

"To have breakfast in bed and not have to put pants on all day." https://t.co/KXvm5JZOxj

— Maxim (@MaximMag) May 4, 2018

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature Cancelled Amid Sexual Assault Scandal

At Foreign Policy, "The Nobel Scandal Has Become a Swedish Foreign-Policy Crisis":

Spoke to @ForeignPolicy about the crisis in the Swedish Academy and for the Nobel Prize in literature, which will not be awarded this year.

A white, male-dominated, elite institution getting its comeuppance, according to the standard narrative.https://t.co/j3s6abtPkf

— Paulina Neuding (@paulinaneuding) May 10, 2018

STOCKHOLM — The crisis in the Swedish Academy, which started last November with sexual assault allegations against the husband of an Academy member and culminated last Friday in the cancellation of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, has been described in Swedish media as “the cultural conflict of the century.” But some Swedes are concerned that it may be more than that — namely, a national diplomatic crisis.

As the scandal deepened over the past few weeks, Swedish policymakers have fretted about how it might affect one of the pillars of the country’s international policy: its positive and progressive reputation. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has already admitted to the national media that the Nobel affair has had diplomatic consequences. “This is absolutely not good for [Sweden’s] reputation,” he said last week. “That’s why it’s so important that the Academy now relentlessly continues to work to restore confidence.”

The Nobel scandal has amplified an existing theme of the national debate in the run-up to Sweden’s September general election: Sverigebilden, which translates as “the image of Sweden,” but normally implies a positive image. Lofven and his Social Democrat-led government had already been emphasizing the need to cultivate Sverigebilden, and it has been the subject of numerous op-eds and TV and radio debates in recent months.

Sverigebilden might seem like a superficial aspect of politics, but the Swedish government has made it anything but. Paulina Neuding, editor in chief of the Swedish online magazine Kvartal, describes it as a form of “domestic foreign policy.” On the one hand, communication around Sverigebilden is part of Sweden’s so-called nation branding, which is directed at outsiders, including the tourists and investors who support the Swedish economy. On the other hand, it’s also about shaping the conversation and media reporting about Sweden at home. As negative images of Sweden spread abroad following the 2015 refugee crisis, and the apparent challenges the country was having integrating its new arrivals, the Swedish government made it a priority to engage in what Neuding refers to as “image management” aimed at foreign audiences.

Neuding cites a fact sheet in English published in February last year on the government’s website in response to the dissemination of what it called sometimes “simplistic and occasionally inaccurate information about Sweden and Swedish migration policy.” Around the same time, the Swedish Institute — a public agency that promotes Sweden around the world — launched a social media campaign, using the hashtag #factcheck. The Swedish Institute posted videos on Sweden.se — “Sweden’s official account on Twitter” — contesting claims that Swedish police had lost control over the country’s immigrant-dense suburbs, that Sweden is the “rape capital of the world,” and that the Swedish system had collapsed after the country took in a record number of migrants in 2015.

“Sweden’s strong consensus culture has meant that the government’s narrative has been supported by the political opposition as well as by much of Swedish media and other sections of the establishment,” Neuding adds. The struggle over Sverigebilden has thus revealed its dark side. Anyone who attempts to highlight shortcomings of Swedish domestic policy is easily deemed unpatriotic and risks ending up ostracized. “Your name gets associated with ‘illegitimate opinions’ by polite society,” Neuding says.

The crisis in the Swedish Academy, however, has been an exception. The government has put the blame on the Academy for tarnishing its own, and by extension the country’s, reputation, rather than on the Swedish media reporting on the scandal. Swedish news outlets, for their part, have even been translating their reporting to English in hopes of getting cited in the international press. Swedes are also discussing the question of how the scandal affects the country’s image, but that hasn’t been treated as a reason not to report on the affair.

Neuding believes that’s because the Swedish Academy crisis is generally perceived as being about an elite, male-dominated institution getting its comeuppance over allegations of sexual abuse and financial crimes — which is entirely consistent with an image of Sweden that many progressive Swedes, who already viewed their country’s elite institutions as potentially tyrannous patriarchies, are comfortable with. (The Swedish Academy is a private arts institution — a rare thing in Sweden, where much of the art world relies on state funding — founded in 1786 by King Gustaf III to advance the Swedish language and literature; since 1901, it has awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.) In that view, it’s the Swedish Academy itself that’s the threat to Sverigebilden, not the critical reporting about it.

Some Swedes see the whole affair as an opportunity...

More.

Actress Patricia Contreras at Cannes 2018 Film Festival

At Drunken Stepfather, "Patricia Contreras Nip Slip of the Day."

Hailey Clauson Tries Out Roller Skating During Her Photo Shoot in the Bahamas (VIDEO)

She's an adorable sweetie.

Robert Service, The Last of the Tsars

At Amazon, Robert Service, The Last of the Tsars: Nicholas II and the Russia Revolution.

Lindsay Shepherd Bids Goodbye to the Left (VIDEO)

She's a good lady.

I don't think riding public transportation because you don't have a car automatically puts on on the left, but other than that, this is a very thoughtful vlog.

Danielle Gersh's Warm Weather Forecast

It's going to be a beautiful day.

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

Today's Deals

At Amazon, Gold Box Deals.

And especially, 1000 Thread Count Egyptian Cotton Sheets Queen 4 Piece Sheet Set White Solid.

More, Kaufman Sales 4 Pc Pack Stripe Beach Towel by Ben Kaufman Sales.

And, Riedel SST (SEE, SMELL, TASTE) Pinot Noir Wine Glass, Set of 2.

Here, Yamaha RX-V383BL 5.1-Channel 4K Ultra HD AV Receiver with Bluetooth.

More here, BLACK+DECKER 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, Black, CM1160B.

Plus, Koffee Kult Dark Roast Coffee Beans - Highest Quality Gourmet - Whole Bean Coffee - Fresh Roasted Coffee Beans, 32oz.

BONUS: Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train.

'Feminist' Men

There's really no such thing as "feminist" men, as feminism's an ideology out to destroy the male patriarchy. No man can escape condemnation.

In any case, it's Jill Filipovic, at NYT:

Democrat Party 2018: NO HETEROSEXUAL WHITE MALES ALLOWED! https://t.co/ySM9onWhZ0 pic.twitter.com/SsWqMCi1nd

— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) May 9, 2018

Demi Lovato of the Day

At Drunken Stepfather, "DEMI LOVATO TITS OF THE DAY."

The Intellectual Dark Web

An excellent piece, from Bari Weiss.

Read the whole thing.

An alliance of heretics is making an end run around the mainstream -- and finding enormous new audiences thirsty to discuss subjects that have become taboo. Meet the Intellectual Dark Web: https://t.co/iveK9LoXPd

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) May 8, 2018

Vita Sidorkina in Bikini Swim Adventure (VIDEO)

Jaw-dropping.

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Victor Sebestyen, Lenin

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Victor Sebestyen, Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror.

A. James McAdams

At Amazon, A. James McAdams, Vanguard of the Revolution: The Global Idea of the Communist Party.

Stephen Kotkin, Stalin

This is volume two of Kotkin's magisterial biography.

At Amazon, Stephen Kotkin, Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941.

Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Putin

From Professor Michael Curtis, at the New English Review:

Are the Tsars out tonight? High in the sky the Tsars climb. For policy makers in Washington it is useful to compare two individuals who have risen in the Russian sky. On May  7, 2018 the 65 year old Vladimir V. Putin was sworn in as President of Russia for another six year term, his fourth term of office, having been elected with 77% of the vote.  He was not crowned Tsar in a relatively low key ceremomy that was attended by about 6,000 including sundry personalities, Gerhard Schroeder, former German Chancellor and critic of sanctions against Russia, Steven Seagal, Hollywood black belt in aikido and citizen of Russia since November 2016, and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill who gave Putin an 18th century icon. After the inauguration ceremony the secular Putin attended a prayer service at the Cathedral of the Annunciation.

 Vladimir Putin has been in power, as president or as prime minister since the last day of 1999. According to polls conducted by the independent Moscow Levanda Center in 2017, his popularity remains high, partly because there is no obvious alternative, no candidate from political parties, or social organizations, or trade unions, who can be regarded as a possible alternative.

Yet, Putin is not the most renowned or revered Russian. A poll in June 2017 on which Russian was the national symbol and biggest hero revealed that Joseph Stalin was the "most outstanding person in history." Stalin got 38% approval, while Putin tied with writer Alexander Pushkin at 34%. Stalin, probably seen as the hero of World War II rather than a cruel ruler, was even much more favorably regarded than Lenin, Bolshevik founder of the Soviet Union.

For the U.S. and indeed the rest of the democratic world a vital question is raised. Can Putin be seen as the heir of Stalin and the continuator of his policies? First, how to define Stalinism? Was it a perversion of the Bolshevism launched by Lenin, or was it the Revolution betrayed, or was it the embodiment of historic Russian nationalism using palatable language?

The showing recently of the black comedy film The Death of Stalin is a reminder of the crimes, the power struggles, counter plots, cult of personality, rewriting of history, the shifting truths in the Soviet Union. Central to most of that regime is the story of Stalin's reign of terror, a "total river of blood" in Leon Trotsky's words, during which more than 1.6 million party officials, military officers, intelligence agents, were murdered on fake charges of treason. In one year 1937-38, more than 700,000 were executed and millions of others were exiled or imprisoned.

It is arguable whether Stalin's brutality towards Ukraine 1932-3 can be called Holodomor, the deliberate attempt at genocide, the death of  millions, some estimates go as high as seven million, of Ukrainians on ethnic grounds, and the elimination of the Ukraininan independence movement, or whether the catastophe was an act of nature, a  genuine result of crop failure. Either way, it was a state engineered mass murder of the peasantry. It was part of Stalin's emphasis on the collectivization of agriculture. Every action of Stalin, other than the maintenance of his own power, was subordinated to "socialism in one country" and thus to a near permanent state of emergency. For Stalin, the Soviet Union was encircled by external enemies, and therefore a massive security organization was vital.

But Stalin's paranoia embodied internal enemies for which the main instruments were the political police and the Gulag system of forced labor camps...

More.

NRA Darling Sensation 'Alpha Addy'

At the Los Angeles Times, "She's a YouTube sensation and NRA darling: Meet 9-year-old sharpshooter 'Alpha Addy'":

Nine-year-old Addysson "Addy" Soltau became a YouTube sensation after learning to shoot three years ago. Now she's the darling of the NRA https://t.co/C46BKEDEm5 pic.twitter.com/sW3pFPTgch

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) May 6, 2018

The gap-toothed 9-year-old girl walked the floor of her first National Rifle Assn. convention, her blond ponytail bobbing above earrings fashioned from bullet casings.

When Addysson "Addy" Soltau arrived at the Smith & Wesson booth, she gravitated to a sleek silver .22 semiautomatic Victory pistol, a James Bond-style gun with a silencer attached. It was just out of reach. So her godfather lifted it from the wall and handed it to the girl, who gripped and sighted along the gun like a pro. She already shoots an M&P 15-22 rifle hanging nearby.

"That's actually your next gun," her godfather, Johnny Campos, said of the pistol. Addy gaped, overjoyed.

"Alpha Addy" became a YouTube sensation and NRA darling after she started shooting three years ago, one of many competitive girl shooters who buck not only gun culture stereotypes, but the youth-driven gun control movement that sprung up after the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., this year.

The NRA doesn't track the number of young female shooters, a spokesman said, but as the number of women with guns has grown, they are inspiring their daughters. The National Shooting Sports Foundation says there's been a 77% increase in female gun ownership since 2005, with 5.4 million women participating in target shooting.

All of the youth celebrities at this weekend's annual NRA convention in Dallas, which was expected to draw more than 80,000 people, were female. Keystone Sporting Arms, which sold the Crickett and Chipmunk starter rifles at the convention under the banner "Never too young to understand freedom," sells as many pink and turquoise guns as the traditional colors, staff said. On Sunday, families with children flocked to the Dallas convention center for NRA Youth Day.

Many who stopped at the JM4 Tactical booth where Addy was greeting fans Sunday were parents and girl shooters who recognized her from her videos. A video of her rapidly reloading at home has more than 30 million views; she has 14,000 Facebook followers, 5,600 on Instagram and nearly 300 subscribers on YouTube, where the lead video shows her target shooting to the tune of Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball."

Addy was inspired by 17-year-old Katelyn Francis, a female competitive shooter she saw featured on NRATV while her godfather was babysitting her in San Antonio. Then she found the YouTube channel of Faith and Jenna Collier, sisters in nearby Austin who were about her age, and asked if she could shoot too.

Campos, 28, a retired Marine, agreed to coach her.

"She had never been around firearms. I didn't own any. Her parents didn't. This all started because she showed an interest," he said.

Addy's parents, who work at an education company, had their doubts.

Keep reading.

Random Girl Emily Seller

At Drunken Stepfather, "EMILY SELLER BUSH OF THE DAY":

Emily Seller is some random girl showing her bush on the internet. We looked for her social media, and found nothing, but we didn’t look too hard, and I find it very hard to believe that someone going out there and putting her bush on the internet doesn’t have social media…unless she’s just so fucking hipster, she’s moved to Detroit hipster, to be an artist hipster and deleted her social media as some hipster statement, and has got herself a flip phone with no data plan….because that’s the way hipsters do it if they can’t find a long enough string to use the old can and string form of communication you know at least one unicycle riding weirdo with a waxed moustache out there uses as the only way to contact him…

BONUS: "IGGY AZALEA HARD NIPPLES OF THE DAY."

Today's Shopping

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

And especially, Anne Klein Women's AK/1362RGRG Rose Gold-Tone Diamond-Accented Bracelet Watch, and Anne Klein Women's AK/1931SVTT Diamond-Accented Dial Two-Tone Bracelet Watch.

More, 1/2 Carat 14K White Gold Round Cut Solitaire Diamond Engagement Ring (0.5 Carat K-L Color I2 Clarity).

Also, Kenmore 50043 25 Cu. Ft. Side-by-Side Refrigerator with Water and Ice Dispenser in Stainless Steel, includes delivery and hookup.

Here, Yamaha RX-V383BL 5.1-Channel 4K Ultra HD AV Receiver with Bluetooth.

More here, BLACK+DECKER 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, Black, CM1160B.

Plus, Koffee Kult Dark Roast Coffee Beans - Highest Quality Gourmet - Whole Bean Coffee - Fresh Roasted Coffee Beans, 32oz.

BONUS: Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American History.

Salena Zito and Brad Todd on Fox & Friends (VIDEO)

Their new book is out tomorrow, The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics.

President Trump gave them a huge shout-out on Twitter as well!

“The Great Revolt” by Salena Zito and Brad Todd does much to tell the story of our great Election victory. The Forgotten Men & Women are forgotten no longer!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2018

Tetyana Veryovkina Beach Photo Shoot

At Taxi Driver, "Tetyana Veryovkina Topless on a Beach Photoshoot."

Also at the Fappening, "Tetyana Veryovkina Sexy."

San Diego Charter School Depicts President Trump's Severed Head on a Pike

Just imagine the hysterical outrage had it been President Obama's severed head on a pike. (*Eye-roll*.)

At Breitbart:

CA School mural artist says they were forced to change mural depicting an Aztec spearing Trump’s severed head because “white supremacists” complained https://t.co/wRojMKRp1A

— Amanda House (@AmandaLeeHouse) May 7, 2018

Political Scientist Richard Ned Lebow Won’t Apologize for Lingerie Joke

At the Chronicle of Higher Education, "He Makes a Joke. She Isn't Laughing: ‘Lingerie’ Comment in Elevator Leads to Uproar Among Scholars."

This is really too much. And good for him, Professor Lebow isn't backing down.

No jokes, please. We are fainting-couch feminists. https://t.co/nb0mlP5bjV

— Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) May 7, 2018

Today's Deals

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

And especially, Philips Sonicare Healthy White Electric Toothbrush.

Also, ILIFE V3s Pro Robotic Vacuum, Newer Version of V3s, Pet Hair Care, Powerful Suction Tangle-free, Slim Design, Auto Charge, Daily Planning, Good For Hard Floor and Low Pile Carpet.

More, Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro Full-Size Carpet Cleaner, 1986.

Plus, Craftsman 6 Drawer Heavy Duty Top Tool Chest, All Steel Construction & Smooth Glide Drawers, and Craftsman 450-Piece Mechanic's Tool Set.

Still more, SONGMICS 9 Cube DIY Storage Shelves Open Bookshelf Closet Organizer Rack Cabinet Black ULSN45BK.

Also, LG 65UJ6300-65 Super UHD 4K HDR Smart LED TV (2017 Model) w/Accessories Bundle Includes, SurgePro 6-Outlet Surge Adapter with Night Light, 2 x 6ft. HDMI Cable & Screen Cleaner For LED TVs.

BONUS: David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.

The Totalitarian Transgender Menace

There's not a bit of hyperbole in the blog post at the Other McCain. These she-male "transgender women" are menacing thugs and very dangerous actors.

Robert Stacy McCain is always exhorting folks to wake the hell up, and I've gotta say, time is of the essence.

Read the whole thing at the link, "Transgender Supremacy: Understanding the Ideology of a Totalitarian Menace."

Transgender Supremacy: Understanding the Ideology of a Totalitarian Menace https://t.co/5WmkzJK9DM pic.twitter.com/9wDPgcUXQ2

— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) May 5, 2018

Natasha Oakley Spicy Margarita Time (PHOTOS)

On Twitter:

Spicy margarita time 🇲🇽♥️ @mondayswimwear pic.twitter.com/5KqthfL7kY

— Natasha Oakley (@Tashoakley) May 4, 2018

Plus:

Today's #BOTD is @MONDAYSWIMWEAR's most popular new print: https://t.co/0v0M71Q8vm pic.twitter.com/fZMo5aZZBY

— A Bikini A Day (@ABikiniADay) May 2, 2018

BIKINI OF THE DAY! Tash in @MONDAYSWIMWEAR https://t.co/VPXdipTL0o pic.twitter.com/elHMP7xRUT

— A Bikini A Day (@ABikiniADay) May 1, 2018

Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Min Jin Lee, Pachinko.

Samantha Hoopes Invites You to Explore (VIDEO)

I can think of something I'd like to explore with Samantha Hoopes (IYKWIMAITYD).

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Chloë Sevigny on Why She Chose Not to Add Her Voice to #MeToo

At the Guardian U.K., "Chloë Sevigny: ‘I didn’t want to name names. I think they’re commonly known as assholes anyway’ - More than 20 years ago, the actor was anointed ‘the coolest girl in the world’. As her new film opens, she talks about A-list movie stars hogging the best TV roles and why she chose not to add her voice to #MeToo":

Last year, Ronan Farrow, who broke some of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault allegations in the New Yorker, approached Sevigny and asked if she’d be interviewed by him about her experiences of Hollywood. She turned him down. “I didn’t really have anything to say to him,” she says. “I’ve had experiences that are kind of common, verbal experiences, or innuendos. But I didn’t feel they offended me to such a degree that I wanted to name the names. I think they’re commonly known as assholes anyway. Do you know what I mean? I felt it would draw attention to myself, in a way. Which I know is the wrong thing to say, because we have to be vocal for people who don’t have a voice… ” She trails off, then starts up again. “For someone to say ‘What are you doing after?’ during a casting session is not so unheard of. Yeah, it shouldn’t be done and lots of girls might feel vulnerable and not know what to do in that situation. For me it was like: really?” She laughs. “I do feel like what Harvey Weinstein did compared to Al Franken [the former senator of Minnesota] – there has to be some delineation. Instead they’re all grouped together.”

Was she just naturally buoyant enough to push back against casual propositions?

“I think maybe growing up around some men in my life who were a little chauvinistic [helped]; I don’t know. I can’t even remember now who said it to me, but a female casting director said, in a room full of people: ‘You have to make the men want to fuck you and the women want to be you.’”

Ew.

“Yeah. I almost wish I could remember who she was. Not that I want to call her out, but I feel like that was almost more damaging in a way. To think to myself, that’s really what I have to be? And then trying to figure out how to be that. This was from a casting person who was like, this is how you’re going to get the jobs and then that permeating through how I thought about myself, and the commodity I was. That was more damaging than the guy asking me what are you doing after or saying you should take your clothes off more. Shocker.”

It makes sense that Sevigny, while sensitive to all the nuances surrounding #MeToo, held back when approached by Farrow; to be in a room with her is to be reminded that Sevigny, while friendly and charming, is a non-conformist who makes up her own mind, thinking long and hard before she answers some questions and doubling back to qualify them once she has. She is politically at odds with her family, a situation she finds depressing, but is well used to by now. Sevigny grew up in Darien, Connecticut, the US equivalent of the conservative Home Counties, but after moving to New York at 19 and falling in with a fashionable art crowd, rapidly moved away from the opinions she’d grown up around. Her family watch Fox News, she says, “which I try to zone out whenever I go home. It’s a losing battle. They’re at an age when – now it’s just the sad undercurrent of tension, and me having to block it out or ignore.”

More.

Paris Hilton Does Cosplay Photo Shoot

At Drunken Stepfather, "Paris Hilton Does a Photoshoot in Cosplay of the Day."

Bicentennial of Birth of Karl Marx, the Man Whose Ideas Killed Untold Millions

From Paul Kengor, at WSJ, "Marx’s Apologists Should Be Red in the Face":

Opinion: Marx’s apologists should be red in the face, writes @DrPaulKengor https://t.co/diNstXSF9T

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 5, 2018

May 5 marks the bicentennial of Karl Marx, who set the stage with his philosophy for the greatest ideological massacres in history. Or did he?

He did, but deniers still remain. “Only a fool could hold Marx responsible for the Gulag,” writes Francis Wheen in “Karl Marx: A Life” (1999). Stalin, Mao and Kim Il Sung, Mr. Wheen insists, created “bastard creeds,” “wrenched out of context” from Marx’s writings.

Marx has been accused of ambiguity in his writings. That critique is often justified, but not always. In “The Communist Manifesto,” he and Friedrich Engels were quite clear that “the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: abolition of private property.”

“You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property,” they wrote. “But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population.” And this: “In one word, you reproach us with intending to do away with your property. Precisely so; that is just what we intend.”

Marx and Engels acknowledged that their views stood undeniably contrary to the “social and political order of things.” Communism seeks to “abolish the present state of things” and represents “the most radical rupture in traditional relations.”

Toward that end, the manifesto offers a 10-point program, including “abolition of property in land,” “a heavy progressive or graduated income tax,” “abolition of all right of inheritance,” “centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly,” “centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state” and the “gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country.”

In a preface to their 10 points, Marx and Engels acknowledged their coercive nature: “Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads.” In the close of the Manifesto, Marx said, “The Communists . . . openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions.”

They were right about that. Human beings would not give up fundamental liberties without resistance. Seizing property would require a terrible fight, including the use of guns and gulags. Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and a long line of revolutionaries and dictators candidly admitted that force and violence would be necessary...

More.

Obama Trump Swing Voters

At the New York Times, "They Voted for Obama, Then Went for Trump. Can Democrats Win Them Back?":

I interviewed 38 Obama-Trump voters. Takeaway: Most Americans are not thinking very much about politics. They have busy lives. They don't have time for Twitter. https://t.co/KAFHZqVKTB

— Sabrina Tavernise (@stavernise) May 4, 2018

RITTMAN, Ohio — In the daily race that is her life, Sharla Baker does not think about politics very much.

She rises early, drives to the gas station to buy coffee, feeds her baby, dresses her two other children, ages 3 and 2, and hustles them all off to day care. By 9:30 a.m. she pulls into a hair salon 45 minutes away, where she is training to be a cosmetologist. She waxes and cuts all day long, making only the money she earns in tips, which on a recent day last month was $8.41.

But Ms. Baker does vote. She picked Barack Obama for president in 2008 and 2012. He seemed sincere and looked like a happy family man. But most important, he was a Democrat. Her great-grandmother, who grew up poor in Pennsylvania, always said that Democrats look out for the poor people.

In 2016, though, she voted for Donald J. Trump. Yes, he was rich and seemed mean on his TV show, “The Apprentice.” But she liked how he talked about jobs and wages and people being left out of the economy.

Now, more than a year later, she is wavering.

“I voted for Trump because I wanted some change going on,” said Ms. Baker, 28. “But then again, maybe he’s going to do the wrong change.”

The swing of Obama voters to Mr. Trump proved a decisive factor in the 2016 presidential election. Of the more than 650 counties that chose Mr. Obama twice, about a third flipped to Mr. Trump. Many were in states critical to Mr. Trump’s win, like Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

John Sides, a political-science professor at George Washington University, has estimated that 9 percent of voters who cast ballots for Mr. Obama ended up voting for Mr. Trump. Among white voters who had never been to college, it was 22 percent.

Now, as the country lurches into another election season — this time the prize is control of Congress — a crucial question for Democrats is whether the party will be able to lure these voters back. Democrats have had some early successes. Wins in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Virginia have given Democrats hope that voters might be souring on Mr. Trump — to the point that the party might flip control of the House and possibly even the Senate. Next week’s primary races in Ohio and West Virginia, both states that went for Mr. Trump in 2016, will also serve as tests of voter enthusiasm for Democrats.

We recently asked people who cast ballots for both Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump to describe how they felt about the president and the Democratic Party ahead of the midterms. In interviews with 38 voters in 14 states across four months, a clear pattern emerged. Voters said they did not like Mr. Trump as a person and did not consider themselves die-hard supporters. Some were even embarrassed by him.

But many were basically satisfied with his policies. The tax bill was mildly positive, they said. Several had a bit of extra money in their paycheck. They liked that he was trying to address illegal immigration. Only a few regretted their vote...

More.

Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

At Amazon, Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

Can Democracy Save Itself?

I like this one, from Ronald Inglehart, at Foreign Affairs, "The Age of Insecurity: Can Democracy Save Itself?":

In the long run, democracy seems to be the best way to govern developed countries. https://t.co/5zh8R2s2hi

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) May 4, 2018

To  a large degree, the shifts between democracy and authoritarianism can be explained by the extent to which people feel that their existence is secure. For most of history, survival was precarious. When food supplies rose, population levels rose with them. When food grew scarce, populations shrank. In both lean and fat times, most people lived just above the starvation level. During extreme scarcity, xenophobia was a realistic strategy: when a tribe’s territory produced just enough food to sustain it, another tribe moving in could spell death for the original inhabitants. Under these conditions, people tend to close ranks behind strong leaders, a reflex that in modern times leads to support for authoritarian, xenophobic parties.

In rich countries, many people after World War II grew up taking their survival for granted. They could do so thanks to unprecedented economic growth, strong welfare states, and peace between the world’s major powers. That security led to an intergenerational shift in values, as many people no longer gave top priority to economic and physical security and no longer felt as great a need to conform to group norms. Instead, they emphasized individual free choice. That sparked radical cultural changes: the rise of antiwar movements, advances in racial and gender equality, and greater tolerance of the LGBTQ community and other traditional out-groups.

Those shifts provoked a reaction among older people and those holding less secure positions in society (the less educated, the less well off) who felt threatened by the erosion of familiar values. During the past three decades, that sense of alienation has been compounded by an influx of immigrants and refugees. From 1970 to 2015, the Hispanic population of the United States rose from five percent to 18 percent. Sweden, which in 1970 was inhabited almost entirely by ethnic Swedes, now has a foreign-born population of 19 percent. Germany’s is 23 percent. And in Switzerland, it is 25 percent.

All this dislocation has polarized modern societies. Since the 1970s, surveys in the United States and other countries have revealed a split between “materialists,” who stress the need for economic and physical security, and “postmaterialists,” who take that security for granted and emphasize less tangible values.

In the U.S. component of the 2017 World Values Survey, respondents were asked a list of six questions, each of which required choosing which of two goals was most important for their country. Those who chose things such as spurring economic growth, fighting rising prices, maintaining order, and cracking down on crime were defined as materialists. By contrast, those who gave top priority to things such as protecting freedom of speech, giving people more say in important government decisions, and having greater autonomy in their own jobs were designated postmaterialists.

In recent U.S. presidential elections, this split has had a major influence on voting patterns, dwarfing the effects of other demographic traits, such as social class. Consider the 2012 election: those who gave priority to materialist values in all six of their choices were 2.2 times as likely to have voted for the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, as they were for the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, and those who gave priority to postmaterialist values in all six choices were 8.6 times as likely to have voted for Obama as they were for Romney. This relationship grew even stronger in 2016, when Trump, an openly racist, sexist, authoritarian, and xenophobic candidate, ran against Hillary Clinton, a liberal and cosmopolitan one, who was also the first woman nominated by a major party. Pure materialists were now 3.8 times as likely to vote for Trump as they were for Clinton, and pure postmaterialists were a stunning 14.3 times as likely to vote for Clinton as they were for Trump.

Economic insecurity can exacerbate these cultural pressures toward authoritarianism. In 2006, the Danish public was remarkably tolerant when protesters burned Danish embassies in several Muslim-majority countries in response to a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad published by a Danish newspaper. At the height of the crisis, there was no Islamophobic backlash in Denmark. The next year, the anti-Muslim Danish People’s Party won 14 percent of the vote. But in 2015, in the wake of the Great Recession, it won 21 percent, becoming Denmark’s second-largest party. A backlash against the European migrant crisis was the immediate cause of the party’s support, but rising economic insecurity strengthened the reaction...

Keep reading.

Leftist Media's Jihad on Sarah Sanders (VIDEO)

She's so effective she's been targeted for destruction by the radical left media jihadists.

See, for example, WaPo, via Memeorandum, "As a willing warrior for Trump, Sarah Sanders struggles to maintain credibility."

And watch, Laura Ingraham, at Fox News:

Myla Dalbesio Jaw-Dropping Sunset Photo Shoot (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Kendall Jenner Braless in White Evening Dress

At Taxi Drier, "Kendall Jenner Braless in See-Through White Evening Dress."

The Redistribution of Sex

All this stuff about "incels" is freaky and rather disgusting, frankly.

But considering there's a major push to legalize prostitution on the left (it's "sex work," don't you know?), it does seem rather inevitable that "progressive" social policies designed to satisfy a "right to sex" will emerge. Such a right is a bullshit, of course, but I've already seen idiot libertarians like Will Wilkinson making the argument that incels should get cash vouchers to help them afford women of the night, or something.

It's too weird. In any case, see Ross Douthat's column at NYT, FWIW:

My Wednesday column: The Redistribution of Sex, which apparently has many readers on this platform already:https://t.co/Jb9vzkngKB

— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) May 2, 2018

Ashley James in White Lingerie

At Taxi Driver, "Ashley James Nipples in See-Through White Lingerie."

And, at the Daily Star, "Ashley James exposes bare breasts in see-through lingerie snap: ASHLEY James certainly isn't afraid to flash the flesh."

Russell Banks, Cloudsplitter

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Russell Banks, Cloudsplitter: A Novel.

When Old Left and Far Right Share a Bedroom

Pretty interesting.

At NYT, "A Very German Love Story: When Old Left and Far Right Share a Bedroom":

Helmut Lethen, 79, and Caroline Sommerfeld, 42, both writers, represent two generations and two intellectual camps in an ever more divided Germany. They are political enemies. And they are married, having the conversation their country is not. https://t.co/uoHdp8IPIR

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) May 1, 2018

VIENNA — When she says identity, he hears exclusion.

When he says diversity, she hears Islamization.

He accuses her of forgetting history. She accuses him of obsessing with history. He calls her a racist. She calls him a national masochist.

Helmut Lethen, 79, and Caroline Sommerfeld, 42, are both writers. They represent two generations and two intellectual camps in an ever more divided Germany. They are political enemies.

And they are married.

Their marriage is exceptional, incomprehensible even, but it is also a laboratory for tolerance and a rare window into how the other side thinks. Intimately and daily, they are having the conversation their country is not.

It is a very German love story (though the couple reside in Austria, where the husband teaches), one neatly pegged to the 50th anniversary of the counterculture movement that remains a touchstone of global postwar history — and to the ascent of the counter-counterculture movement of today.

May 1968 was as important in Europe as it was in the United States, fueled similarly by a youth bulge, sexual liberation, disgust with the Vietnam War and general discontent with the era’s political establishment.

And it spawned much the same trajectory for its baby boomers, from budding student revolutionaries to button-down liberal elites.

Germany was no exception. And neither was Mr. Lethen.

A student activist at the time, Mr. Lethen toyed with Communism, rebelling against Germany’s postwar elites which, as he put it, “still stank of the Nazis” — only to become part of the country’s cultural mainstream.

Ms. Sommerfeld, a philosopher in her own right, was swept up in another countercultural movement: In the summer of 2015, as hundreds of thousands of refugees arrived in Germany, she discovered the “New Right,” the intellectual spearhead of a nationalist movement that considers Islam and globalization existential threats.

Her husband had celebrated the arrival of the refugees: “I think it is the first time in our cultural history that we have welcomed the foreign in this way,” he said.

Ms. Sommerfeld, though, felt “anxious” and “repelled.”

Today, she hopes her own fringe movement is tapping into a shifting zeitgeist that will reverberate in Germany and beyond, just as her husband’s did in its day.

“We are the megaphone of a silent majority,” she claims...

Well, I'm with her, to borrow a phrase, lol.

Still more.

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BONUS: Dennis Prager, Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph.

Fear of the Left is Most Powerful Force in America

Well, that's pretty powerful, but it's not a force for good.

From Dennis Prager, at American Greatness, "Fear of the Left: The Most Powerful Force in America Today."

Erynn Brook Hates 'Whiteness' and Masculinity

At the Other McCain, "Yes, America, Erynn Brook Hates You."

She's a terrible, terrible person. Read her Twitter feed, ugh. Imagine being married to that!

Eiza Gonzalez in See-Through

At the Nip Slip, "Eiza Gonzalez See Through to Thong!"

And at Hot Celebs, "Eiza Gonzalez – Candids in West Hollywood."

Shania Twain Performs on NBC's Today Show Concert Series in New York City (PHOTOS)

At Drunken Stepfather, "Shanina Twain Big Trash Tits in New York City (PHOTOS)."

I think she recently lost a lot of Trump-supporting fans, what, with her walk-back of a presidential election endorsement (actually, an abject apology to the murderous leftist correct-think mobs).

Sophie Mudd

She's spectacular.

At Drunken Stepfather, "SOPHIE MUDD’S MASSIVE TITS OF THE DAY."

And check her out on Twitter, "Sophie Mudd Fan Page."

Ireland Baldwin Bares It All for Beach Photo Shoot

At London's Daily Mail, "Ireland Baldwin bares all as she shares snap from sultry nude photoshoot."

Victims of Communism Day

At Reason:

Today is May Day. "Over time, the date was taken over by the Soviet Union and other communist regimes and used as a propaganda tool to prop up their [authority]. I suggest that we instead use it as a day to commemorate those regimes' millions of victims."https://t.co/kfMLXupao7

— reason (@reason) May 1, 2018

While communism is most closely associated with Russia, where the first communist regime was established, it had equally horrendous effects in other nations around the world. The highest death toll for a communist regime was not in Russia, but in China. Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward was likely the biggest episode of mass murder in the entire history of the world. In terms of comprehensive state control over society and suppression of civil liberties, Soviet communism fell short of the even more thoroughgoing totalitarianism of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge and North Korea.

Elizabeth Hurley Flashes in Sheer Dress

At London's Daily Mail, "Elizabeth Hurley, 52, flashes her nipples in sheer kaftan after revealing son Damian, 15, is 'embarrassed' by her sexy selfies ... so who took the picture?"

Shop Today

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

And especially, Pelican 1510 Case With Foam (Black).

Plus, Paul Mitchell Shampoo Two Deep Cleansing -Size 8.5 oz, and Paul Mitchell Original Hair Repair Treatment 6.8 oz (200 ml).

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And, Samsung (UN55MU6290FXZA) Flat 54.6" LED 4K UHD 6 Series Smart TV (2017 Model) with Solo X3 Bluetooth Home Theater Sound Bar + 6ft HDMI Cable + Universal Screen Cleaner for LED TVs.

BONUS: Norman Podhoretz, Ex-Friends: Falling Out with Allen Ginsberg, Lionel and Diana Trilling, Lillian Hellman, Hannah Arendt, and Norman Mailer.

Jennifer Delacruz's Marine Layer Forecast

Still cool out, especially on the coasts.

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

Olivia Jordan Nothing but Bikini Bottoms (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

The Culture War is First and Foremost a War of Words

This is great. It's Michael Knowles, for Prager University:

Our 'Cry Closet' Education System

The University of Utah has installed a "cry closet" for students to let it all out during finals week.

Funny, I don't remember needing to cry during finals. I was ecstatic the semester was coming to an end and I got some time off from school, sheesh.

Here's Mike Rowe, on Facebook, "Our Educational System is Under Attack."

And for Prager University:

Guadi Galano

At Editorials Fashions Trends, "Guadi Galano by John Joseph Estevez."

Out in Paperback: Omar El Akkad, American War

*BUMPED.*

I've been thinking about this book a lot, since more and more people are describing American politics as a genuine civil war.

At Amazon, out in paper, Omar El Akkad, American War.

It's a great book.

Democrat Party Revolutionaries Destroy Norms, Advocate Violence

From VDH, at National Review, "Revolution and Worse to Come":

Revolution and Worse to Come https://t.co/GH9xKTzfUx via @VDHanson pic.twitter.com/V5A8yAGh0G

— National Review (@NRO) April 25, 2018

On the domestic and foreign fronts, the Trump administration has prompted economic growth and restored U.S. deterrence. Polls show increased consumer confidence, and in some, Trump himself has gained ground. Yet good news is bad news to the Resistance and its strange continued efforts to stop an elected president in a way it failed to do in the 2016 election.

Indeed, the aim of the so-called Resistance to Donald J. Trump is ending Trump’s presidency by any means necessary before the 2020 election. Or, barring that, it seeks to so delegitimize him that he becomes presidentially impotent. It has been only 16 months since Trump took office and, in the spirit of revolutionary fervor, almost everything has been tried to derail him. Now we are entering uncharted territory — at a time when otherwise the country is improving and the legal exposure of Trump’s opponents increases daily.

First came the failed lawsuits after the election alleging voting-machine tampering. Then there was the doomed celebrity effort to convince some state electors not to follow their constitutional duty and to deny Trump the presidency — a gambit that, had it worked, would have wrecked the Constitution. Then came the pathetic congressional boycott of the inauguration and the shrill nationwide protests against the president.

Next was the sad effort to introduce articles of impeachment. After that came weird attempts to cite Trump for violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution. That puerile con was followed by plans to declare him deranged and mentally unfit so that he could be removed under the 25th Amendment. From time to time, Obama holdovers in the DOJ, National Security Council, and FBI sought to leak information, or they refused to carry out presidential orders.

As the Resistance goes from one ploy to the next, it ignores its string of failed prior efforts, forgetting everything and learning nothing. State nullification is no longer neo-Confederate but an any-means-necessary progressive tool. Suing the government weekly is proof of revolutionary fides, not a waste of California’s taxpayer dollars.

Anti- and Never-Trump op-ed writers have long ago run out of superlatives. Trump is the worst, most, biggest — fill in the blank — in the history of the presidency, in the history of the world, worse even than Mao, Mussolini, Stalin, or Hitler. So if Trump is a Hitler who gassed 6 million or a Stalin who starved 20 million, then logically Trump deserves what exactly?The book industry is doing its part. Mythographer Michael Wolff’s hearsay Fire and Fury suggested that Trump was a dangerous child despised as much by his friends as by his enemies. As  FBI director, James Comey leaked confidential memos, lied to Congress, misled a FISA court, admitted that he based his handling of the Clinton-email investigation on the assumption she’d win the presidency, misinformed the president about the status of his investigation. And the now-former director book-tours the country slamming Trump hourly on the assumption that he would certainly not be former, if only his prior obsequious efforts to appease Trump had saved his job. Comey is building perjury cases against himself daily with each new disclosure that belie past sworn testimonies, but that is apparently less scary to him than simply ignoring Trump.

Robert Mueller and his “dream team” were long ago supposed to have discovered proof of Trump’s collusion with Russia. A year later, they have found nothing much to do with this mandate. Then the alternative scent was obstruction of justice. Then the chase took another detour to follow some sort of fraud or racketeering. Now the FBI is reduced to raiding Trump’s lawyer in an effort to root out the real story on Stormy Daniels. One wonders what might have happened had Michael Cohen panicked and destroyed 30,000 emails before Mueller seized his computers. No matter, Mueller’s legal army presses on, even as it leaves its own wounded on the battlefield, as resignations, reassignments, and retirements for improper conduct decimate the Obama-era FBI and DOJ hierarchies....

Trump has left the intelligence community unhinged....

Insidiously and incrementally, we are in the process of normalizing violence against the elected president of the United States. If all this fails to delegitimize Trump, fails to destroy his health, or fails to lead to a 2018 midterm Democratic sweep and subsequent impeachment, expect even greater threats of violence. The Resistance and rabid anti-Trumpers have lost confidence in the constitutional framework of elections, and they’ve flouted the tradition by which the opposition allows the in-power party to present its case to the court of public opinion.

Trump has left the intelligence community unhinged....

Still more.

Nine Journalists Among Dozens Killed by Kabul Bombs

Susan Page tweets AP:

This is a blow to our hopes for Afghanistan's future. May the journalists and the other victims of this bombing not be forgotten. https://t.co/KHfWyJyrnU

— Susan Page (@SusanPage) April 30, 2018

Nine journalists were killed today in a double suicide bombing in Kabul. The reporters had flocked to the scene of the first explosion. Then a terrorist in their midst, pretending to be a fellow journalist, detonated another bomb. https://t.co/9EOIBvcRN6

— Tricia L. Nadolny (@TriciaNadolny) April 30, 2018

And at the BBC, via Memeorandum, "Kabul bombings: Photographer Shah Marai among 25 dead."