Monday, July 8, 2019

How the 'Invisible Primary' May Pick Dems' 2020 Nominee

From Bill Schneider, who used to be a great analyst on CNN back in the day, but you never see him anymore. *Shrugs.*

At the Hill, "The 'invisible primary' has begun":


The first primary of the 2020 presidential campaign is underway. It’s called the “invisible primary.” Nobody actually goes to a polling place to cast a ballot — but there are winners and losers.

The invisible primary takes place the year before the presidential election. The winner is the candidate who ends the year with the most support in the polls and the most money raised.

Does the invisible primary predict the ultimate winner? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It worked four years ago when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump came out on top of their respective parties. It didn’t work in the 2004 election when the winner of the invisible Democratic primary was Howard Dean. In January 2004, when the actual voting began, Dean came in third in the Iowa caucuses and second to John Kerry in New Hampshire. By mid-February, Dean was out.

So where does the Democratic race stand now?

California Sen. Kamala Harris was the clear winner of the first Democratic debate. That has brought her a huge amount of media attention and a rise in the polls. She may become the leading progressive candidate. But not necessarily the nominee.

Since World War II, Democratic primaries have often ended up as showdowns between progressives and populists. The difference is social class. Progressive Democratic voters tend to be relatively affluent, well educated and liberal, particularly on social issues like abortion and guns. Populist Democratic voters tend to be working class, non-college educated and moderate on social issues, though often liberal on economic issues like health care.

In the 1950s, Democrats were divided between Adlai Stevenson (progressive) and Estes Kefauver (populist). In 1968, it was Eugene McCarthy (progressive) versus Robert Kennedy (populist). In 1972, George McGovern (progressive) and Hubert Humphrey (populist). 1984: Gary Hart (progressive) and Walter Mondale (populist). 1988: Michael Dukakis (progressive) and Richard Gephardt (populist). 1992: Paul Tsongas (progressive) and Bill Clinton (populist). 2000: Bill Bradley (progressive) and Al Gore (populist). 2008: Barack Obama (progressive) and Hillary Clinton (populist). In the 2016 Democratic race, Bernie Sanders branded himself a populist, but his core support came from young progressives.

Democrats won in 2018 because, in a midterm, the party didn’t have to come up with one presidential candidate. In 2020, they do.

Right now, Joe Biden dominates the populist wing of the party, often described as “moderates.”

The progressive field is more crowded — and more divided.

Harris is poised to challenge Sanders as the progressive alternative to Biden. But she faces a lot of competition from other Democrats popular with the NPR crowd — Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O’Rourke, Kirsten Gillibrand. Biden has to hope progressives fail to unite behind a single “Stop Biden” candidate.

The polls show Biden doing best among older Democrats. To young progressives, Biden is a voice of the past. The English novelist L.P. Hartley once wrote, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Like bipartisanship and compromise. And collaboration with outright racists. To older Democrats, however, the past is when things used to work — before Trump came along to cause chaos and disruption. They’re counting on Biden to restore that past.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, white populists, led by organized labor, were the dominant force in the Democratic Party. They began leaving the party when Democrats embraced the civil rights movement. Non-college educated whites have not voted for a Democrat for president in more than 50 years.

The populist vote in the Democratic Party today is mostly minority voters. Southern whites and northern white ethnics (who used to be called “Archie Bunker” voters) have become out of reach for Democrats. White working-class voters are often depicted as the swing vote, but they’re unlikely to swing back to the Democratic Party, not even for Biden. Biden started the race with strong black and Latino support. He’s finding out that he can’t afford to alienate those minorities.

The swing vote today is college-educated white suburban voters who are appalled by President Trump. In 2018, Democratic House candidates made their biggest gains in affluent suburban districts like Orange County, Calif., and Fairfax County, Va. Those upscale voters respond to progressive messages on social issues like abortion and guns. Not to tax hikes or “socialism.”

The 2016 election taught Democrats an important lesson. They expected that revulsion at the prospect of a Trump presidency would rally the party. That didn’t quite happen. Here’s why...
Still more.

Saturday, July 6, 2019

Diarmaid MacCulloch, All Things Made New

At Amazon, Diarmaid MacCulloch, All Things Made New: The Reformation and Its Legacy.



Local CBS News Anchor Ducks Under Desk During 7.1 Earthquake (VIDEO)

Althouse has it, "'I think we need to get under the desk'."

And at the Hollywood Reporter, "Panic on Local L.A. News Station Following 7.1 Earthquake."

I didn't feel the need to duck, not yet, at least. But the earthquake was long, and I was ready to move if it kept going. My wife said perhaps this lady wasn't from California, and hadn't live through earthquakes. If you're not used to them, you might freak out.



New 7.1 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks California (VIDEO)

I felt both earthquakes, but last night's was much more powerful. My apartment was rolling for about 20 seconds, but even as it was rolling and rocking, I felt bad for Ridgecrest, because I could imagine how strong and deadly it was at the epicenter.

This second quake was actually a "foreshock" to the Fourth of July temblor.

At the Los Angeles Times, "7.1 earthquake causes damage; more significant temblors likely":

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Southern California on Friday night, the second major temblor in less than two days and one that rocked buildings across Southern California, adding more jitters to an already nervous region.

The quake was centered near Ridgecrest, the location of the July Fourth 6.4 magnitude temblor that was the largest in nearly 20 years. It was followed by an aftershock first reported as 5.5 in magnitude. Scientists said the fault causing the quakes appears to be growing...
More.

Friday, July 5, 2019

Celebrating Our Unique Country's Origins

From Professor Gordon Wood, at NYDN, "What Independence Day really means: Our unique country’s origins":
The Fourth of July, Independence Day, is not just a time for barbecues and fireworks. It is also a time for us to reflect on the meaning of the Declaration of Independence. That declaration is the most important document in our history, even more important than the Constitution. It sums up the principles by which the nation lives. Indeed, it is what holds us together as a nation.

We are a very unusual country, and were unusual even at the time of independence. Lacking a common ancestry, we have never been able to take our nationhood for granted. In America, said John Adams, the country’s second president, there was nothing like “the Patria of the Romans, the Fatherland of the Dutch, or the Patrie of the French.”

Even at the outset, Adams wondered whether a people composed of so many religious denominations and so many ethnicities could hold together as a nation. In 1813, he counted 19 different religious sects in the country. “We are such an Hotch potch of people,” he concluded, “such an omnium gatherum of English, Irish, German, Dutch, Sweedes, French &c. that it is difficult to give a name to the Country, characteristic of the people.”

No wonder then that at the end of the Declaration of Independence, the members of the Continental Congress could only “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” There was nothing else but themselves that they could dedicate themselves to: no patria, no fatherland, no nation as yet.

n comparison with the nearly two-and-a-half-centuries-old United States, many countries in the world today are new, some of them created in the relatively recent past. Yet many of these states, new as they may be, are undergirded by peoples who had a pre-existing sense of their common ancestry, their tribal and blood connections, by which they meant their nationhood.

In the case of the United States the process was reversed. In some sense we have never become a nation, and today, with people from all over the world gathered within our borders, we can never be a nation in any traditional meaning of the term.

In the present this peculiarity of American nationhood, this lack of a common ethnicity, may be our saving grace. It may turn out to be an advantage in the 21st century, dominated as it is by mass immigration from the south to the north and east to west. It certainly enables the United States to be more capable than other countries of accepting and absorbing immigrants.

Of course, America has its own recent problems with immigrants, but these problems pale in comparison with the problems of immigration the European nations are facing and will continue to face.

Because we are not a traditional nation and have no ethnic base, the Declaration of Independence with its ringing affirmation that all men are created equal has become the sacred document holding us together. On the eve of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln came to realize how important the Declaration was in defining the nationhood of the United States, how it had become the adhesive for a diverse people.

Half the American people, Lincoln said in 1858, had no direct blood connection to the founders of the nation. These German, Irish, French and Scandinavian citizens had either come from Europe themselves or their ancestors had, and “finding themselves our equals in all things,” had settled in America. Although these different ethnicities may have had no actual connection in blood with the revolutionary generation, they had, said Lincoln, “that old Declaration of Independence” with its expression of the moral principle of equality to draw upon...
More.

All the Military Flyovers at 'Salute to America' Celebration on the National Mall (VIDEO)

Following-up, "President Trump's Fourth of July 'Salute to America' at Lincoln Memorial (VIDEO)."



Traveling Photo Model Marta Gromova

At Drunken Stepfather, "MARTA GROMOVA OF THE DAY."

Philip Roth, American Pastoral

At Amazon, Philip Roth, American Pastoral American Trilogy (1).



Philip Roth, I Married a Communist

At Amazon, Philip Roth, I Married a Communist: American Trilogy (2).



Sarah McDaniel

At Celeb Jihad, "SARAH MCDANIEL NEW NUDE PHOTO SHOOT."

Some Random Lady Takes Her Top Off at Magic Mountain

Heh.


David McCullough, The Pioneers

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, David McCullough, The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West .



Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power

At Amazon, Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power.



This Guy. I Can't Even...

On Twitter:


'Why do you think Democrats are freaking out because President Trump wanted some tanks in the Fourth of July parade? Because the U.S. military symbolizes everything they hate about America...'

The Other McCain, with his typically incisive analysis, "Happy Fourth of July, You Fascists!"


President Trump's Fourth of July 'Salute to America' at Lincoln Memorial (VIDEO)

At the Los Angeles Times, "Trump’s Fourth of July speech inserts politics and protests into national celebration":

Fourth of July celebrations in Washington usually bring Democrats and Republicans together to mark the national holiday while taking a break from partisan politics.

Not this year.

With tanks on the streets of the nation’s capital, military jet flyovers and a presidential address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, President Trump injected his trademark over-the-top style — as well as his divisive personality — into the traditional fireworks display at the National Mall.

While most presidents have steered clear of Fourth of July festivities to avoid politicizing the day, Trump has been personally involved in the details of the planning — much to the frustration of local officials and residents in the predominantly liberal city.

Ever since Trump’s 2017 visit to watch France’s Bastille Day celebration, he has pressed for a similar event at home. He initially tried to organize a military parade on Veterans Day, but plans fell apart amid opposition from the local government and estimates that the costs would run into the tens of millions of dollars. Even some Pentagon officials bristled at such an overt public display of American military power.

But many of those same ideas were part of Thursday’s celebration, including military tributes and flyovers. And Trump made himself the main event.

“We are one people, chasing one dream, and one magnificent destiny,” Trump told the crowd. “We all share the same heroes, the same home, the same heart, and we are all made by the same Almighty God.”

Despite fears Trump would use the opportunity to push his policies or criticize Democrats, the president stuck to a teleprompter and refrained from the combative language he prefers at campaign speeches and on Twitter...
More.

Divisions on Display for Trump's 'Salute to America' on Fourth of July

At USA Today, a good piece:


Dan Crenshaw, Patriot

An amazing guy. True patriot and awesome antidote to idiots like AOC.


Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Megan Parry July 4th Forecast

It's going to be lovely weather.

Enjoy the 4th!



Alexis Ren of the Day

At Drunken Stepfather, "ALEXIS REN EROTICA OF THE DAY."


Today's Shopping

At Amazon, Today's Deals. Save on our top deals every day.

And especially, Legacy Heating vc-CDFP-S-CB Gas Aluminum Fire Table, 56.7" x 21.3" x 24", Black.

Here, Logitech MK735 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo - MK710 Keyboard and Wireless Mouse M510.

Also, Buck Knives 110 Famous Folding Hunter Knife with Genuine Leather Sheath - TOP SELLER.

More here, Military Outdoor Clothing Never Issued U.S. Military Canteen.

Also, CLIF Fruit Smoothie Filled - Organic Energy Bar - 3-Flavor Variety Pack - 1.76 Ounce Protein Snack Bar, 12 Count.

Plus, Nestlé Pure Life Bottled Purified Water, 16.9 oz. Bottles, 24/Case.

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

BONUS: John O'Hara, BUtterfield 8 (Penguin Classics).

Thanks to #Democrats, Pride in America Hits New Low

At Gallup, "American Pride Hits New Low; Few Proud of Political System":


The latest overall declines in patriotism are largely driven by Democrats, whose self-reported pride has historically been lower and has fluctuated more than Republicans'. Democrats' latest 22% extreme pride reading is the group's lowest in Gallup's 19 years of measurement, and is half of what it was several months before Donald Trump's 2016 election victory.

For their part, most Republicans have remained extremely proud of their country, and the latest 76% reading is just 10 points below the high recorded in 2003. Even when Barack Obama was in office, Republicans' extreme pride never fell below 68%.

Independents have historically been less proud of the U.S. than Republicans have been; currently, 41% express extreme pride -- which is, by one point, the lowest reading in the trend.

Several subgroups that typically identify as Democrats -- women, liberals and younger adults -- all express lower levels of extreme U.S. pride than their counterparts...

Joy Villa Defends the Flag (VIDEO)

She's promoting her video from last year on Twitter.

It's worth re-upping.



D Is for Damaged, Dangerous and Delusional

From Dennis Prager, at American Greatness:


If you watched either or both of the two Democratic Party presidential candidate debates, and if you are a liberal, a conservative or a centrist, you had to have been depressed. The intellectual shallowness, the demagoguery and the alienation from reality were probably unprecedented in American political history. Only a leftist, a socialist or a communist could have gone to bed a happy person on either night.

If you think this is a baseless generalization, here are a few of myriad examples from the first night:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): “(The economy is not doing great) for the African Americans and Latinx whose families are torn apart, whose lives are destroyed and whose communities are ruined.”

Two things stand out: First is Warren’s morally reprehensible and false description of the economy. She never explains how the American economy is tearing families apart, destroying lives or ruining communities. Aside from being baseless, it is another left-wing libel against America.

She went on to explain economic inequality in America: “Corruption, pure and simple. We need to call it out.” It is difficult to overstate the contempt she and the rest of the left have for America.

Even more troubling was Warren’s use of the term “Latinx.” When leftist Orwellian newspeak makes its way into the United States Senate and into the vocabulary of a presidential candidate, the country is in trouble.

Here is how HuffPost explains the term (of which it approves):

“Latinx is the gender-neutral alternative to Latino, Latina and even Latin@. … Latinx is quickly gaining popularity among the general public. It’s part of a ‘linguistic revolution’ that aims to move beyond gender binaries and is inclusive of the intersecting identities of Latin American descendants. In addition to men and women from all racial backgrounds, Latinx also makes room for people who are trans, queer, agender, non-binary, gender non-conforming or gender fluid.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.): “If billionaires can pay off their yachts, students should be able to pay off their student loans.”

My only response to this statement is to ask, Do most Democrats find that a compelling argument? Do they not realize what a non sequitur it is—and therefore how demagogic?

Billionaires, like non-billionaires, pay off their debts because they do not incur debts they cannot repay, not because they are billionaires. Senator Klobuchar apparently believes that non-billionaires need not pay off their debts. Every Democrat who addressed this issue said American society should repay student debts—which amount to $1.6 trillion. The party of “fairness” thinks it’s fair that every student who repaid his or college debts—and every young American who never went to college—must pay off that debt.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro spoke in Spanish. Perhaps they—like all on the left—are unaware of the importance of all Americans speaking English in uniting the most ethnically disparate nation in human history. You cannot say “diversity is our strength” if you do not work to unite all the diverse cultures into Americans. And you cannot unite Americans without one language.

Their speaking Spanish was so transparently pandering to Latin, Latino, Latina, Latin@ and Latinx Americans that, for that reason alone, that group should decline to vote Democrat.

O’Rourke: “This economy has got to work for everyone. And right now, we know that it isn’t.”

This is just not true. Given some of the lowest unemployment rates in modern American history, this economy seems to be working quite well—certainly for all those willing to work.

Booker: “This is actually an economy that’s hurting small businesses and not allowing them to compete.”

The question I always want answered when someone on the left tells an outright lie is, Does he or she believe it? Someone should ask this of Booker. As the National Federation of Independent Businesses announced last month:

“Optimism among small business owners has surged back to historically high levels, thanks to strong hiring, investment, and sales,” said NFIB President and CEO Juanita D. Duggan. “The small business half of the economy is leading the way, taking advantage of lower taxes and fewer regulations, and reinvesting in their businesses, their employees, and the economy as a whole.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio: “There’s plenty of money in this country. It’s just in the wrong hands. Democrats have to fix that.”

The notion that America’s money is “in the wrong hands, (and) Democrats have to fix that” should frighten every American who believes in private property and who opposes dictatorships and theft.

Castro: “I don’t believe only in reproductive freedom; I believe in reproductive justice.”

Here’s an important rule: Whenever anyone adds an adjective to the word “justice,” know that the person is not speaking about justice but about something else entirely. “Social” justice is another such example.

Castro boldly proclaimed his view that unauthorized border crossing should be decriminalized and announced, “In my first 100 days with immigration reform (I) would put undocumented (i.e., illegal) immigrants, as long as they haven’t committed a serious crime, on a pathway to citizenship.”

Though not one Democrat candidate used the term, every single one believes in open borders...

Larry Schweikart, A Patriot's History of the United States

A good time to repost Schweikart's book.

At Amazon, Larry Schweikart, A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to America's Age of Entitlement (Revised Edition).



Victor Davis Hanson, The Second World Wars

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Victor Davis Hanson, The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.



Dua Lipa

At the Fappening, "Dua Lipa Sexy (18 Photos)."

And at Celeb Jihad, "DUA LIPA NEW YEARS NIPPLES AND BIKINI PICS."


Jason Statham Bottle Challenge

I love this guy, heh.


The Boldly Public Anti-Americanism of the American Left

It's Rush Limbaugh:
RUSH: So, Mr. Snerdley walked in here, looks at me, and says, “You’re gonna catch hell today, buddy.” I said, “Why? What did…? What did I do?” He said, “You gotta get that Nike shirt off, man! You can’t show up on the Dittocam…” “Oh, my God. I forgot. I didn’t even think about it.” So I made a mad dash into the dressing room in there that we use about twice a year when I do television. Thankfully, I had a shirt not made by Nike in there. It’s a Steelers coach’s shirt. So I slapped it on there. It’s a good catch by Mr. Snerdley. I didn’t even think of it. It didn’t even occur to me.

Who makes the shirt doesn’t matter to me when I go grab ’em and put ’em on. It’s not why I bought ’em. Anyway, greetings, folks. Here we are set, ready, and loaded to unload on another day in the United States of America. We’re coming up on Independence Day, which is Thursday, a couple days from now. Oh, by the way, have you heard? Mike Pence was scheduled to do an event in New Hampshire and his plane has been called back. The event, whatever it was in New Hampshire, has been canceled.

Pence is on the way back now to D.C. (he may be back by now) for an unspecified emergency. I haven’t seen any more on it than that. If there is something, it has escaped me. But whatever. When we learn more, we’ll pass it on. I wonder what it is. You know, then you realize Trump is gonna be front and center in Washington on Thursday. He’s asked for there to be tanks and a flyby on The Mall as part of the celebration of America. That is gonna… (chuckles) If that happens, can you imagine the provocative nature? I mean, putting tanks on the street!

The Democrat Party, the American left is gonna go bonkers. By the way, folks, is there any doubt that what we’re dealing with here — flat-out, now — is straight-up anti-Americanism? When I have mentioned casually and pointedly over the recent past that the American left has now become a political group that does not believe America could be fixed. America needs to be disbanded. America needs to be ripped up, torn apart, and rebuilt. We are forever flawed because of our founding.

Even though all of the grievances that they have about the founding have been addressed, have been fixed, such as women being able to vote, slavery and any number of things. That’s not good enough — and this Nike situation with Colin Kaepernick proves it! Colin Kaepernick is objecting to today’s flag, not the flag that flew before slavery. He’s objecting to today’s flag, and here’s Nike (because one of their paid athletes objects to the flag) pulling the shoe made with the American flag on it! I mean, there isn’t any question here that what we’re dealing with is not people who are aligned with us on things in common.

It used to be said of the two political parties that we all want what’s best for America. That can’t be said anymore. And it has not been the case for a long time, if you ask me. These people are not interested in what’s best for America. They want to tear it down, folks. They’re not even hiding it anymore. They’re not trying to even camouflage it. They aren’t trying to mask it. They aren’t trying to deceive us. They’re flat-out in our faces. They don’t like this country, and it’s not about fixing it. It’s about tearing it down. It’s about ripping apart the fabric of this country and destroying the people who are the descendants of those who founded it.

I don’t mean in a genetic sense. But people who believe in the founding, they’ve gotta go. Make no mistake about it. Colin Kaepernick and his behavior and Nike going along with him, in my estimation, is flat-out un-American. It’s anti-America, let’s put it that way. We don’t have any overlap here where it used to be said (impression), “Yeah, well, we’re all… We all want the best for America. We just have different, uh, theories about how to get there.” They’re not looking at the best! They want to rip this country apart. They want to tear up the concepts of the American founding.

Here we are two days before the Fourth of July, and I wouldn’t blame any of you if you’re out there kind of pulling your hair out, saying, “Can we not just have one day to celebrate this country? Can’t we just have one day between us?” This little AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and this gaggle of hysterical women that she takes down there with her to the border, lying their way through that border visit. You know, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has had happen to her what a bunch of shock-jock type people on the radio always have happen.

After a while, your gig gets old, your schtick no longer shocks, and so you have to keep crossing new lines. And that’s all she’s doing. She’s addicted to getting noticed. She’s out there, a former bartender, saying that Ivanka Trump has no business being a diplomat. “She’s got no experience being a diplomat! She doesn’t know what being a diplomat is,” from a former bartender who’s been elected to Congress with one of the lowest vote it turns out in the history of the congressional district.

Now she runs down there and starts trashing and lying about conditions at the border and the people who administer the people who come into this country illegally. She flat-out lies that the detainees are being forced to drink out of toilets! The Border Patrol and ICE people are denying this. Even this gaggle of lunatics with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez admit they haven’t seen it. There aren’t any witnesses have actually seen people being forced to drink water out of a toilet.

But, my friends, based on what we’re told about the circumstances where these people are fleeing, maybe toilet water’s a step up for some of them. Based on what the left is telling us their homelands are like. So we’ve got that to deal with. Now we have Nike canceling the rollout of a flag shoe — a new flag shoe — at the behest of a triggered anti-American ex-jock, Colin Kaepernick. But in a way, you can’t blame Nike because Kaepernick and that ad campaign they ran sold a heck of a lot of shoes. You couldn’t blame Nike for thinking that Kaepernick’s audience and the people that buy tennis shoes or whatever are indeed themselves anti-American. Not un-American, anti-American...

'Mini-AOC' Doxxed, Death Threats

She had a funny little gig going, but leftists can't tolerate any going against the party line, even a little kid. And yeah, her parents put her up to to it. But so what? It's a parody and the kid was learning a lot about politics and the political process.

Unfortunately, the lesson now is "shut up or you'll be dead."


There's video of her still up here, "Mini AOC gets better every time!! Now with with her official Twitter handle: @miniAOCofficial."

And at Fox News, "Mini-AOC releases 're-election video' mocking the New York congresswoman.

Michael Eric Dyson Compares Betsy Ross Flag to Swastika, Burning Cross

This guy's a clown.

At Free Beacon:


Tuesday, July 2, 2019

John O'Hara, A Rage to Live

At Amazon, John O'Hara, A Rage to Live (Vintage Classics).



Mark Honigsbaum, The Pandemic Century

At Amazon, Mark Honigsbaum, The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria, and Hubris.



Andy Ngo on 'The Story with Martha MacCallum' (VIDEO)

Following-up on my earlier post on Antifa's heinous attack on Andy Ngo.

Ngo appeared earlier with Martha MacCallum, and you can see that he's impaired, obviously in the very earliest stage of recovery. What a guy.



U.S. Women Beat England in World Cup Semifinal

It was a great game, even better with Megan Rapinoe benched, lol.



Niall Ferguson Becomes an American (VIDEO)

It's always a fine time, and Ferguson's now at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, bidding farwell, apparently, to far-left Harvard University.

Watch, at Prager University:



Today's Shopping

At Amazon, Today's Deals. Save on our top deals every day.

See especially, Apple MacBook (2017) 12" Laptop, Retina Display, Intel M3-7Y32 Dual-Core, 256GB PCI-E SSD, 8GB DDR3, 802.11ac, macOS 10.12, Gold (Renewed).

And, Leather Travel Duffle Bag Gym Overnight Weekend Luggage Carry on Airplane Underseat Bag.

More, Smith & Wesson SWMP4LBS 8.6in Stainless Steel Assisted Folding Knife with 3.6in Clip Point Blade and Aluminum Handle for Outdoor Tactical Survival and Everyday Carry.

Plus, Barnett Whitetail Pro STR Crossbow, 400 Feet Per Second.

Here, Samsung QN65Q6F Flat 65” QLED 4K UHD 6 Series Smart TV 2018.

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


Alexandra Stan

At Drunken Stepfather, "ALEXANDRA STAN TOPLESS 55."

And the Fappening, "Alexandra Stan Sexy & Topless (46 Photos + Video)."

Monday, July 1, 2019

Angels Pitcher Tyler Skaggs Has Died

It's still early and the cause of death has not been announced, but it's official. I wonder if he took his own life. This is enormously sad.


Emily Ratajkowski Twerking

At Hollywood Tuna.

BONUS: "Emily Ratajkowski Hacked Nude Photos."


Madison Gesiotto

A conservative former Miss Ohio. What's not to like?

Plus, she's stacked!


Kamala Harris Wants to Bring Back Forced Busing

This is at the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Kamala Harris and Classmates Were Bused Across Berkeley. The Experience Changed Them."

She's on record as supporting a return to the failed desegregation polices of the 1970s.

And at the Los Angeles Times, "School busing in Berkeley during Kamala Harris’ childhood was both voluntary and volatile":


The school bus ride was less than three miles from one side of Berkeley to the other, but from 1969 to 1973 it transported Carole Porter to an entirely different world.

Like her neighbor and friend Kamala Harris, Porter was one of thousands of black children bused into predominantly white neighborhoods to learn. It was part of Berkeley’s bold experiment in desegregation.

But even in a city that had become a worldwide symbol of 1960s counterculture revolt, systemic racial prejudice in education and housing remained deeply entrenched.

“That’s a really hard thing to reconcile,” said Porter, 55. “Berkeley was an oxymoron. It was a contradiction in many ways.”

Harris’ three years of busing from her family’s mainly black working-class neighborhood to a prosperous white enclave in the hills overlooking San Francisco Bay was at once universal and uniquely Berkeley.

As in many American cities, the discriminatory housing policy known as redlining kept blacks from moving into white neighborhoods in Berkeley and busing fueled some white flight to the suburbs.

But unlike other sizable cities, Berkeley undertook its busing program voluntarily and required both white and black families to travel into unfamiliar neighborhoods. Rapid demographic and political changes shielded the community from the most extreme pushback, including violence, that hobbled busing efforts nationwide.

More than 50 years after Berkeley launched its busing program, Harris, one of its most famous participants, thrust it back into the spotlight in last week’s Democratic presidential debate.

As California’s first black senator chastised her rival Joe Biden for his fight against forced busing in the ’70s, she leaned on her personal history in Berkeley, portraying herself as a beneficiary of the charged battle for educational equality.

“There was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day,” Harris said. “And that little girl was me.”

Contrary to its enduring reputation as a progressive mecca, the Berkeley of Harris’ childhood was more politically muddled. The conservative John Birch Society operated two bookstores in the area. It wasn’t until the early 1960s that Democrats cracked a Republican stronghold on the city council. Black residents were restricted to living to the southern and western flats, while whites resided in the northern hills.

Thelette A. Bennett, 71, a retired vice principal of Berkeley High School, grew up in the same neighborhood as Harris.

Bennett’s father, a black World War II Navy veteran, was an airplane mechanic at a local naval air station in 1945, when redlining blocked him and his wife from buying a house in a white neighborhood. Even in the black neighborhood where they settled, she said, they needed to get a white real estate agent to buy a home and transfer it to them.

“There were only certain areas where they could buy a home,” Bennett said. “We lived where they allowed us to live.”

But a large influx of African Americans during and after World War II and whites affiliated with UC Berkeley were pulling the local politics to the left, paving the way for desegregation. Black leaders raised concerns about segregation in the city starting in the late 1950s.

In response, the school board studied the matter, concluding that all but three of the district’s 17 elementary schools and two of the three junior high schools were segregated. (Berkeley High, the city’s only high school, was integrated by default.) In 1964, the school board voted to desegregate its junior high schools.

Residents’ reactions were not as extreme as the segregation battles elsewhere in the country, such as the South, but “it wasn’t as far from that as you might assume,” said Natalie Orenstein, a reporter for local news site Berkeleyside. “There were definitely really angry parents and hours-long school meetings.”

Desegregation opponents launched recall campaigns of multiple school board members over the junior high busing program, but lost by a wide margin.


Jennifer Delacruz Sunday (Monday) Forecast

She's so sweet.



Social Media Isn't Substitute for Real-Life Interaction

I quit Facebook (I post a selfie once in a blue moon for the helluvit).

This is good, from Arthur Brooks, at WaPo:


Andy Ngo

I've long thought this dude's a bad motherfucker. I quit doing my on-the-ground reporting after I was targeted for violent attacks by ANSWER Los Angeles. I won't do an event unless I have my own security detail, and I'm not hiring anyone. It's not worth it to me any more --- I've paid my dues. I don't think Andy should be going out without his own burly security contingent. These Antifa goons will kill him.

It was totally viral over the weekend, and Michelle Malkin put up a GoFundMe page.



'Midway' (VIDEO TRAILER)

This is cool because I just watched the original "Midway" last month on cable, with Henry Fonda and Charleston Heston. What a hoot. That films mixes real WWII battle film with the dramatic acting cinema.

Now here comes a new version, and I'm here for it lol.

At the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, "Watch first trailer for ‘Midway,’ a new World War II movie filmed in Hawaii."



Selena Gomez Red Bathing Suit

At Drunken Stepfather, "SELENA GOMEZ HARD NIPPLES OF THE DAY."

And Taxi Driver:


Friday, June 28, 2019

Democrats Offering a Great Deal to People Who Aren't Americans

Hat-tip, John Sexton, at Hot Air, "Andrew Sullivan: 2020 Dems Are Offering A Great Deal…To People Who Aren’t Americans."

And read the whole, outstanding thing, from Andrew Sullivan:


Peter Caddick-Adams, Snow and Steel

*BUMPED.*

This guy is a phenomenal historian.

At Amazon, Peter Caddick-Adams, Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45.


Victoria Justice

At the Fappening, "Victoria Justice Nude (39 Leaked Photos)."

And at Celeb Jihad, "VICTORIA JUSTICE SHOWS OFF HER NUDE ASS CHEEKS."

Intimate Raine Michaels

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:



Democrats Move Left --- Frankly, It's Just All Out in the Open Now

It's not like the Dems haven't been a far-left extremist party. It's now that they're not afraid to come out as the crypto-Marxists they truly are.

At LAT, "This is not your father’s Democratic Party: Debate shows how leftward it has moved":

The Democratic Party opened its 2020 presidential debates with a remarkably policy-focused exchange that illustrated how consistently to the left they have moved. For the night, at least, this was Elizabeth Warren’s party.

The Democratic senator from Massachusetts, who entered the debate with momentum behind her campaign, set the tone and dominated the early part of the debate, which focused on economic policy.

“When you've got a government, when you've got an economy that does great for those with money and isn't doing great for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple,” she said. “We need to make structural change in our government, in our economy and in our country.”

Even those of her rivals who don’t fully share that assessment declined chances to put themselves at odds with Warren. Instead, they sang from the same hymnal of left-wing economic populism declaring the need for broad reforms of the political and economic system.

“It is time we have an economy that works for everybody,” said Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, after minimizing his differences with Warren’s plan to break up big tech companies.

The shift in the party goes beyond economics. As the debate made clear, it includes gun control, abortion, climate change and immigration, among other issues. On each of those, candidates took positions to the left of those embraced by either of the last two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who was barely mentioned by any of the candidates.

Rather than Clinton’s call for abortion to be “safe, legal and rare,” for example, the debate featured candidates stressing that the universal healthcare plans they backed would include public funds to pay for abortions for poor women.

On healthcare, only two candidates — Warren and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio — raised their hands when asked who would favor fully abolishing private health insurance plans in favor of instituting “Medicare for all.” But even those who favored a more moderate approach, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, for example, said they preferred a new government health insurance option for all — an idea that was considered too radical to pass when Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act less than a decade ago.

On immigration, former Obama Cabinet official Julián Castro pressed for decriminalizing illegal border crossings, making that a civil rather than a criminal offense. While Castro was correct in saying that the Trump administration had used the criminal law in a far more aggressive way than its predecessors, the law that makes unauthorized border crossings a criminal offense has been on the books for decades. Eliminating it is a move popular with some activists.

At least three of the candidates — Warren, Booker and Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio — share Castro’s view. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke disagreed, and the clash between the two Texans over decriminalizing the border made for one of the night’s most intense moments, but it was notable that the disagreement came on a proposal that went far beyond anything that the Obama administration, in which Castro served, ever talked about.

And there was broad party consensus on gun control, an issue that Democrats for years shied from. Booker’s proposal to require gun licensing goes significantly further than what gun-safety advocates have dreamed of proposing.

The leftward tilt of the party did give some candidates pause.

“We have a perception problem with the Democratic Party that we are not connecting to the working class,” said Ryan, who represents the Youngstown, Ohio, area. “We have to change the center of gravity from being coastal elites and Ivy League.”

Klobuchar took a veiled swipe at Warren’s promises to enact broad changes in the political and economic system.

“I don’t make all the promises others up here make,” Klobuchar said. “I’m going to govern.”

But others argued for going further left, notably De Blasio, struggling for a breakout moment and calling the primary a “battle for the heart and soul of our party.”

“This Democratic Party has to be strong and bold and progressive,” he said.

Joe Biden 'Dated Himself', 'Underperformed' — and 'Was Eaten Alive'

It was really terrible. Following-up, "Joe Biden Damage Control (VIDEO)."

At Politico, "Biden ‘Dated Himself,’ ‘Underperformed’—and ‘Was Eaten Alive’."

And, "Joe Biden's rivals pummel him after shaky debate performance: The Democratic contenders question whether the former vice president is ‘up to this challenge'":
Joe Biden’s Democratic rivals delivered blow after blow on Friday morning, seeking to further diminish the presidential front-runner’s prospects after he delivered a shaky performance on Thursday night’s debate stage.

“I think that we have to have a nominee that’s up to this challenge, and I think that we’re going to see whether or not Joe Biden is,” Cory Booker warned Friday morning in an interview on CNN’s “New Day.”

“And I don't think you can fault folks like me for calling him out if he fails to live up to the standard our next nominee should have and speak to the real pain and real hurt that I think Kamala spoke to last night,” the New Jersey senator said.

In the most vivid scene from Thursday’s forum of 10 Democratic presidential candidates, Kamala Harris launched a raw onslaught against Biden, the primary field’s leader, for his opposition to federally mandated school busing in the 1970s.

The California senator revealed during the confrontation that she was bused during her childhood as part of the second class to integrate public schools in Berkeley, Calif., and also described as “hurtful” comments Biden made earlier this month about working with segregationist Mississippi Sen. James Eastland during his time in the Senate.

Asked Friday whether the comments and Biden’s busing record disqualify him as a candidate, Harris said that was “a decision for the voters to make.” She also brushed off accusations that raising those controversies Thursday amounted to a “low blow” against Biden.

“It was about just speaking truth,” Harris said on “CBS This Morning.”

“As I’ve said many times, I have a great deal of respect for Joe Biden. He has served our country over many years in a very noble way, but he and I disagree on that,” she said. “And it is a debate, this is a campaign where we should be discussing issues, and there will be contrast. And on this issue … there is a contrast of opinion on the significance of people who have served in the United States Senate and what they have done in terms of their policies.”

Speaking Friday at the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition convention in Chicago, Biden asserted that he “never, ever opposed voluntary busing” and instead supported “federal action to address root causes of segregation in our schools and our communities” — insisting that he has “always been in favor of using federal authority to overcome state initiated segregation.”

Joe Biden Damage Control (VIDEO)

It went badly for Biden last night. Very badly, and now he's doing damage control. He spoke today in Chicago at a Rainbow Push gathering. I can's see how that helps him with the hardcore radical base of the party.

 Watch the full thing, at Bloomberg Tic Toc, "Biden Defends Civil Rights Record In First Remarks Since Harris Debate Attack."

And on Twitter:


Kamala Harris Breaks Out (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Joe Biden Hammered at Second Democrat Party Debate (VIDEO)."

At LAT, "Kamala Harris, known for caution, finds a risky move pays off against Joe Biden":


For weeks, supporters of Sen. Kamala Harris had pointed to the first Democratic debate as the opportunity to break out of her campaign doldrums.

What no one said — and few would have predicted — was that she would do so by taking on the candidate at center stage, former Vice President Joe Biden, upbraiding him for his opposition to busing for school integration and his nostalgic reminiscences about his relationships with segregationist senators early in his career.

“I do not believe you are a racist,” Harris began, turning to face Biden. But, she added, “it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.

“And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”

Biden, sputtering in response, declared Harris’ accusation “a mischaracterization of my position across the board.” He rattled off civil rights measures he had supported in his long career as a senator and tried to defend his opposition to busing during the 1970s and 1980s.

“I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education,” he said, reprising the states’-rights position that he, as a senator from a border state with a history of segregation, had taken decades earlier.

Harris shot back: “That’s where the federal government must step in, that’s why we have the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act … because there are moments in history where states fail to preserve the civil rights of all people.”

The ambush seemed carefully planned. Harris’ campaign aides were armed with photos of the candidate as a little girl, which they tweeted out moments after the clash. It was a surprising risk for Harris, a candidate often described as cautious to a fault...
Risky or not, it worked.

Ms. Harris got her breakout moment. Let's see if it lasts.

Joe Biden Hammered at Second Democrat Party Debate (VIDEO)

I gotta admit it really was something else, man.

She had that attack all cued up and ready for firing. And she blasted Biden, and he struggled and stammered, and he's in damage control now.

She won the debate, but damn, what a nightmare if she were to secure the Democrat nomination. Terrible.

At LAT, "Democratic debate: Joe Biden pushed on the defensive by Kamala Harris and others":


Joe Biden, after months of trying to stay above the campaign fray, joined his 2020 rivals in debate Thursday and immediately faced challenges on issues of race, his relationship with Republicans, his support for the Iraq war and the need for generational change in the party.

The former vice president, who has been the front-runner in early polls, was thrown on the defensive by California Sen. Kamala Harris over recent remarks in which he sounded nostalgic about an era in the Senate when he could work civilly with segregationists.

In an intense flash of anger, Biden defended his record on civil rights, including his opposition in the 1970s to federally ordered school busing for desegregation — one of several occasions when he hunkered down to defend his record over 40 years in Washington and the reputation of the Obama administration.

“If you want to have this campaign litigated on who supports civil rights … I am ready to do that,” he said.

It was a dramatic, personal challenge that overshadowed the expected clash between Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the democratic socialist who is his ideological foil and is running second among Democratic primary voters in most polls.

It was the second of two evenings of debates on MSNBC, under rules set by the Democratic National Committee, marking the beginning of a new phase of the 2020 campaign that reached beyond the party’s most politically active members to a broader electorate.

The debate also exposed divisions among the 10 candidates onstage Thursday — over healthcare, immigration and what it will take to beat President Trump in 2020. It was something of a free-for-all of cross-talk and interruptions, as candidates — especially the lesser-known ones — struggled to be heard.

At one point, Harris interjected, “America does not want to witness a food fight. They want to know how we are going to put food on their table.”

The raucous debate may unsettle some of the dynamics of the race.

Harris’ confrontation with Biden was a signal moment for the senator, whose campaign had been stalled below the top tier in polling. She took the high-profile opportunity to stake out ground as a fresh and compelling voice on race — an issue Democrats continue to struggle with, at a time when African American voters will be crucial to the party’s success. And Harris, unafraid to confront Biden directly on this uncomfortable issue, was the only rival who truly knocked him off his game.

Sanders, by contrast, staked out no new ground, even as his chief rival for voters on the left wing of the party, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, dominated the Wednesday debate.

Sanders offered his trademark call for dramatic change, including the expansion of Medicare for all Americans and free public college.

Eight takeaways from Night 1 of the Democratic debate »
“We have a new vision for America,” said Sanders. “We think it is time for change. Real change.”

He acknowledged he would impose higher taxes on the middle class but said that would be offset by the dramatically lower costs of healthcare. It was a statement that Republicans immediately seized on as ammunition.

“Bernie Sanders boasted that middle class Americans are going to have to pay more in taxes if his socialist policies are enacted,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on Twitter. “The contrast could not be clearer - @realDonaldTrump cut taxes for the middle class, and Democrats want to tax middle class Americans into oblivion.”

Sanders made no apologies for his agenda, saying it would not doom the party’s chances to beat Trump...

Ashley James

At Drunken Stepfather, "ASHLEY JAMES GOT THEM TITS OUT OF THE DAY."