Republican Candidates Meet, Demanding Greater Control Over Presidential Debates (VIDEO)

This isn't as big of a mess as the left-wing media would like folks to believe, much less George Stephanopoulos, who interviews Reince Priebus at the clip below.

And at the New York Times, "Republican Campaigns Meet in an Effort to Alter Debates":

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The presidential candidates in the crowded Republican field finally can agree on at least one thing: just how frustrated they are with the debate process so far.

In a meeting here Sunday evening following the fallout from last week’s CNBC debate — in which the campaigns blamed both the Republican National Committee and the television network for what they said was an unfair debate — representatives of most of the campaigns met to discuss how to exert more influence over the process.

They emerged with a modest list of demands, including opening and closing statements of at least 30 seconds; “parity and integrity” on questions, meaning that all candidates would receive similarly substantive questions; no so-called lightning rounds; and approval of any graphics that are aired during the debate.

The campaign representatives also moved to take the Republican National Committee out of the debate negotiating process, calling for the campaigns to negotiate directly with the TV networks over format, and to receive information about the rules and criteria at least 30 days before each debate.

Ben Ginsberg, a top Republican lawyer and debate negotiator who was invited to serve as a facilitator at the meeting, is drafting a letter — without the R.N.C.’s input — that the campaigns plan to send to the networks within 48 hours. Mr. Ginsberg called the committee immediately after the meeting to convey the group’s next steps...

More.

The Ginsberg letter is at WaPo, via Memeorandum, "Read the letter that Ben Ginsberg drafted for the GOP summit."

They'd Be Shooting by Now

What would the Founding Fathers say about our current political crisis?

Again, I think Donald Trump's tapping into something deeply anti-establishment. See, "The Political Establishment's Terrified by Donald Trump's 'Tangible American Nationalism'."

Monica Crowley on Today’s Totalitarian Left

This is great!

Mark Tapson has an interview with the brilliant Monica Crowley, at FrontPage Magazine.

Her book's a freakin' classic, What the (Bleep) Just Happened . . . Again?: The Happy Warrior's Guide to the Great American Comeback.

America’s Shattered Postwar Order

Instapundit had this posted, and it looks good.

From James Piereson, Shattered Consensus: The Rise and Decline of America’s Postwar Political Order.

Special Operations at Amazon

Here, Books on Special Operations Forces.

And just out last month, Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win.

What 'Rape Culture' Really Means: Your Male Heterosexuality Is Problematic

From Robert Stacy McCain, at the Other McCain.

Donald Trump Slams Obama Over Ground Troops in Syria (VIDEO)

At CNN, via Memeorandum, "First on CNN: Trump slams Obama over ground troops in Syria."

Sacramento Unified High School Teacher Suspended after Allegedly Wrestling Student in Classroom (VIDEO)

Bizarre.

At the Sacramento Bee, "Police identify McClatchy High teacher arrested after allegedly wrestling student."

And at CBS News Sacramento:

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES," and Theo Spark's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

More at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – DNCBC Debate."

Cartoon Credit: A.F. Branco, "Democratic Communist or Democratic socialist, at this point what difference does it make."

Home & Garden Gift Guide for the Season

At Amazon, Shop Holiday Home & Garden Gift Guide - Seasonal Celebrator.

Bonus: Best Sellers in History.

Bernie Sanders Going Up in Iowa and New Hampshire with 60-Second Spot Targeted to Blacks (VIDEO)

He's making "overtures" to black Americans.

At WSJ, "Sanders Releasing 60-Second Ad in New Campaign Phase":

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is putting out his first ad of the 2016 campaign, a 60-second spot that highlights his biography and makes overtures to a constituency that he will need to beat frontrunner Hillary Clinton: African-Americans.

Mr. Sanders’s campaign is spending more than $2 million on the ad, which will air in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that hold the first two contests of the primary campaign.

“Thousands of Americans have come out to see Bernie speak and we’ve seen a great response to his message,” Jeff Weaver, the Sanders campaign manager, said. “This ad marks the next phase of this campaign. We’re bringing that message directly to the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire.”

In national polls, Mr. Sanders is running second to Mrs. Clinton, who has been running television ads since the summer.

The Sanders ad, called “Real Change,” opens with pictures of a young Mr. Sanders: “The son of a Polish immigrant who grew up in a Brooklyn tenement.”

A female narrator says that “fighting justice and inequality” is Mr. Sanders’s overriding project. The ad shows a picture of Martin Luther King, with a caption that reads Mr. Sanders joined the March on Washington, where Mr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

At another point in the ad, Mr. Sanders is shown with his arm around an African-American supporter.

Polling shows Mrs. Clinton has a large advantage over Mr. Sanders among African-Americans, a core part of the Democratic base.

While Mr. Sanders is running a close race against Mrs. Clinton in two states that are largely white—Iowa and New Hampshire—polls show he trails badly in South Carolina, a state that holds the fourth contest of the primary season.

Blacks account for about half of South Carolina’s Democratic electorate...

More.

Peggy Noonan's New Book Out Tuesday

At Amazon, The Time of Our Lives: Collected Writings.

And she's interviewed at this morning's "Face the Nation":

Donald Trump Towers Over GOP Field in Latest IBD/TIPP Poll

At IBD, "Trump Leads GOP, Carson Stays Strong, Rubio 3rd: Poll" (via Conservative Tree-house):

After taking a battering in last month's poll, Donald Trump has re-emerged at the top of the Republican field in the latest IBD/TIPP poll.

Support for Trump among registered Republicans and those leaning Republican is 28%; support for Carson is 23%. Last month's poll had Carson up by 7 points over Trump.

Marco Rubio comes in third at 11%, the same as last month.

No other GOP candidate reached double digits. Support for Jeb Bush dropped two points to 6%; Carly Fiorina collapsed to 3% from last month's 9%. Ted Cruz held at 6%.

"Trump's support in the last poll suffered somewhat because of his nearly weeklong boycott of Fox News, which has since been lifted," said Raghavan Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, which conducts the IBD/TIPP poll. "Carson has recently been under more scrutiny by both the media and other candidates."

Mayur added, "Though our latest poll shows Trump leading Carson, the poll's margin of error of +/- five points means that Trump and Carson are still running a close race."

That's evident from other polls. The latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows Carson in the lead by four points, while the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll has Trump up by three points. Several Iowa polls show Carson well ahead of Trump.

The RealClearPolitics average has Trump at 26.8% to Carson's 22%, with Trump down from his mid-September peak of 30.5%.

Interestingly, Carson does beat Trump among investors in the IBD/TIPP Poll — 27% to 24% — as well as among independents by 30% to 21%. Trump leads among men — 38% to Carson's 18%. Among women, it's Carson at 28% to 18% for Trump...

Keep reading.

Working Out with Playboy's Miss October 2015, Ana Cheri! (VIDEO)

This is great!

Halloween Used to Be for Kids

Heh, at Pajamas, "How Did Halloween Go From Being a Holiday for Kids to a Celebration of Adulthood?"

I tweeted, "Leftist narcissism and endless leftist adolescence?"

And Diana West tweeted me a link to her book, exclaiming, "of course!"

Heh, "#TheDeathoftheGrownUp, of course! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312340494?..."

Cal State Fullerton Math Professor Fights Mandatory Adoption of Department's Standard Alegbra Textbook

I saw something on this a week or two ago, but then forgot about it.

But the story's on the front page at the Sunday O.C. Register, "CSUF math professor in textbook battle draws support and opposition":

Support and opposition for @csuf math professor over textbook debate https://t.co/3lwIcwIm9e

— O.C. Register (@ocregister) October 31, 2015

When Alain Bourget went public with his textbook spat with Cal State Fullerton last week, he knew the risky move would set off a wave of backlash from his department.

What the associate math professor didn’t see coming was dozens of emails and phone calls from CSUF students and professors around the country – and a nationwide discussion about academic freedom and mounting textbook prices.

“This has been the toughest week of my life,” said Bourget, who was reprimanded by university officials after he assigned alternative textbooks instead of one co-authored by the university’s math department chair.

The case and the debate that ensued were brought to light by the Register this month.

The textbook Bourget refused to use was “Differential Equations and Linear Algebra,” written by Stephen W. Goode and Scott A. Annin, the chair and vice chair of the math department. In some form, the book has been the singular text for Introduction to Linear Algebra and Differential Equations, also called Math 250B, for more than two decades. A new copy of the book costs $180 at the campus bookstore.

Bourget’s preferred teaching materials are “Introduction to Linear Algebra” by Gilbert Strang, which costs $76 new, and a free online publication, “Elementary Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems” by William F. Trench.

Bourget said he chose those books because they’re a better fit for his students and cheaper than the Goode-Annin book. He tried to get permission to use the alternative texts over the course of two years. After several meetings with his superiors and no resolution, Bourget assigned his preferred texts last spring.

Shortly after, CSUF officials issued a letter of reprimand against Bourget, saying he violated math department policy and orders from university officials. School leaders cited a 31-year-old policy that states Math 250B – which has multiple sections – will use a common text approved by the math department. It doesn’t spell out the book-adoption process, book title or author.

Bourget challenged the reprimand letter last week at a public hearing, making his case before a panel of his peers. The three-member panel will decide by Friday whether the reprimand stands.

During the hearing, Goode acknowledged that his text was never formally adopted by the math department as Math 250B’s common text until 2014. Bourget raised issues with Goode’s book in 2013.

The matter has created a divisive environment within the university.

Most of CSUF’s math instructors – save for two, one of whom is Bourget’s wife – stand behind Goode and Annin. They have posted signs stating “The Math Faculty Supports the CSUF Department of Mathematics” outside their offices.

Math faculty members argue that the Goode-Annin text was written with the CSUF student in mind and has been used for years without issue.

“The present text has been successfully used for over two decades with no complaints, so no review was needed outside of the professors teaching the course,” said Margaret L. Kidd, an associate math professor who joined the math department in 2003.

Bourget opponents say the Goode-Annin book can be rented at a cheaper price. A rented copy at the campus bookstore costs between $56 used and $76 new, according to the listed prices, and as low as $16 for a rented paperback and $74 for a rented e-textbook on Amazon. A rental of the hardcover Strang textbook costs about $20 through Amazon.

Bourget said that although renting is an option, most of his students don’t do it because they want to keep the textbook as a reference. He said the renting argument is an attempt to “divert the conversation.”

Still more.

U.S. to Send Special Forces to Syria (VIDEO)

A major development --- and an indication that the Obama White House is deeply worried about its foreign policy legacy. They lost Iraq. And the spillover's spreading across the Middle East.

NBC's Richard Engel reports at the video below.

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Deployment of up to 50 commandos would be first sustained U.S. ground presence in Syria":

WASHINGTON—The U.S. is sending special-operations forces to northeastern Syria, a shift in strategy that establishes the first sustained American military presence in the campaign against Islamic State in the war-ravaged country.

Up to 50 U.S. special-operations troops will assist Syrian rebel units spearheading what the Pentagon says would be a new military offensive against the militant group, marking a sharp escalation in the level of direct U.S. involvement on the ground inside Syria. The American forces are to link up with local forces in Kurdish-controlled territory whose mission will be to choke off supply lines to Islamic State militants in their Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

The move marks a change for President Barrack Obama who had long promised not to send ground forces to Syria.

“They are not being deployed with a combat mission,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. “The mission of our men and women on the ground has not changed.”

If the initial deployment bears fruit, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday that he would be open to deploying more forces.

“We are going to continue to innovate, to build on what works,” Mr. Carter told reporters on a military jet as it landed in Fairbanks, Alaska, for the first leg of a trip through Asia. “Our role fundamentally and the strategy is to enable local forces. But does that put U.S. forces in harm’s way? It does, no question about it.”

The first phase of the new campaign is expected to kick off with an operation in northern Syria as early as next week, officials said. U.S. drones and fighter planes will provide the Syrian fighters with air support.

The decision to send troops coincides with an administration shift on the fate of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in international talks under way in Vienna.

While U.S. officials once demanded Mr. Assad leave as part of any truce, they have signaled a willingness to let the dictator remain in power for several months or more during a political transition.

Under Mr. Obama’s new orders, the American commandos will operate in Syria under what the Pentagon calls an advise-and-assist mission, and will not accompany local forces on any of their operations “for the foreseeable future,” a senior U.S. defense official said.

But other defense officials said they couldn’t rule out the possibility that the forces would be pulled into occasional firefights with Islamic State military given their proximity to the confrontation line. The officials cited as an example last week’s raid in Iraq in which a U.S. commando was killed.

The decision to send ground forces to Syria drew criticism from some Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. Some lawmakers charged that Mr. Obama was erring by putting U.S. military personnel in harm’s way, and others warned that the commitment was too small to make a difference.

“I firmly believe that the deployment of American ground forces in Syria is not the solution,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D., N.M.) said in a statement.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) called the decision “another tactical move in the absence of a comprehensive strategy for Iraq, Syria, and the broader Middle East that does nothing more than create the appearance of serious action.”

Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Mr. Obama has sought to keep U.S. ground forces out of the country, although the Pentagon has conducted a limited number of raids there using special-operations forces since mid-2014.

More.

Holiday Gifts in Hobby Trains

A great idea for Christmas, and it's not too early to start shopping.

At Amazon, Holiday Gifts in Hobby Trains.

BUMPED!

The Ghost Host Sophia Temperilli

She's on Twitter.

And at CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Asheville, N.C.: The New, Hip Destination in the South?

I had no idea about Asheville when I visited a couple of years back, but I liked it.

And now here's this at WSJ, "Asheville: The South’s Insider Destination":

HENRY JAMES WASN’T much taken with Asheville, the small mountain town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. The novelist spent a week there in 1905 as a guest at Biltmore, George Vanderbilt’s 250-room French Renaissance home. “It is a strange gorgeous colossus,” he wrote to Edith Wharton, “in a vast void of desolation.”

But Mr. James is one of the few who’ve had an unkind word to say about Asheville, one of America’s oldest holiday towns. It was a favorite of the Gilded Age glitterati, including Ms. Wharton, who arrived at Biltmore not long after Mr. James and dispatched a more enthusiastic letter (referencing a popular painting of the day) about the “divine landscape, ‘under a roof of blue Ionian weather.’ ”

Staring out the window of my friend Hap Endler’s snug Cessna on an impromptu aerial tour of Asheville and the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains, I found myself siding with Ms. Wharton. It was a pale blue September afternoon and we were flying over wave after wave of mountain tops covered in oak, maple and pine trees, a deep-green sea dappled in gold and red.

When we flew over Asheville, set squarely in the middle of the French Broad River Valley, I could see just a few tall buildings, most dating to the 1920s, sprout from the compact downtown. I could even make out the small, leafy squares where young buskers play their guitars and washboards on one corner, while a group of young homeless men panhandle for coffee on another. We were up too high to see the sign outside the Indian restaurant, Chai Pani, that reads “Namaste, Y’all,” but I knew that it was there: I’d seen it that morning on my way to the Early Girl Eatery, where a tattooed waiter in a cowboy shirt served me fried-green tomatoes over grits.

Hap and his wife, Julia Weatherford, live just outside of Asheville, in the town of Black Mountain. They’ve entertained me for years with stories about their colorful corner of Appalachia (where Julia, eager to dye her own yarn, bought a flock of sheep), but I had yet to see it for myself. Then, in September, Hap called to give me the latest. “Asheville is hopping. New breweries and restaurants are popping up like crazy and a bunch of hotels are under construction,” he said. Come on down. I’ll take you to President Obama’s favorite barbecue place.” How could I refuse?

Though the city and surrounding mountains have long been a top vacation destination for Southerners and have drawn luminaries from Albert Einstein to Willem de Kooning over the years, it’s only now starting to catch on with travelers outside of the South. A growing number of East and West Coasters are flying in to hike, fly fish and kayak and to lap up the beer (Asheville has 18 breweries and counting). They’re also coming for the restaurants, galleries and the music, all found in surprising abundance for a town smaller than Nantucket...

Hmm, maybe I'll plan a vacation out there with my wife. I stayed at the Grove Park Inn, which is quite famous, apparently.

Keep reading, in any case.