First Quarter GDP Growth Tracking at Just 0.9 Percent

Depression economics.

Next to global Islamic appeasement, meager economic growth (due to ideology and statism) will be the key Obama legacy.

At CBNC, "Shocker cuts to Q1 growth pace show faltering economy" (via Conservative Treehouse):

First-quarter growth is now tracking at just 0.9 percent, after new data showed surprising weakness in consumer spending and a wider-than-expected trade gap.

According to the CNBC/Moody's Analytics rapid update, economists now see the sluggish growth pace based on already reported data, down from 1.4 percent last week. According to the rapid update, economists have a median forecast of 1.6 percent growth in first-quarter GDP, which includes their estimates for data not yet released.

"It's not a polar vortex winter. You can't blame the weather this year. It's the consumer. I think there's a problem with the measurement but at the end of the day if the world were as good as we'd hoped, people would feel better and it's not showing up," said Diane Swonk of DS Economics.

Personal income rose 0.2 percent in February, a tenth above expectations, and spending was up 0.1 percent. But revisions to January's spending data wiped out earlier solid gains and showed spending marginally higher — at 0.1 percent from an earlier 0.5 percent.

Fourth-quarter GDP growth was reported at 1.4 percent Friday, revised up from 1 percent.

Economists had been hopeful the first quarter would show a snapback with growth above 2 percent, and some have been optimistic that weak manufacturing was beginning to show signs of bottoming.

They note the size of the revision to consumer spending is rare.

"It's not falling off the cliff. We're not in a recession but it's consistent with worry," said Swonk...

More.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi Endorsement of Donald Trump (VIDEO)

Via Fox News:

Germany Plans New Law to Require Migrants to Integrate and Learn German – Or Get Deported

At Blazing Cat Fur:

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere said he is intending to implement a new law that will require migrants to learn German and be part of society - or lose their permanent right of residency.

Many people in Germany have turned their backs to Chancellor Angela Merkel following her open-door refugee policy and turned towards the anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany.

The Alternative for Germany party (AFD) has developed an anti immigration stance over the past year, the party has made huge gains in popularity since the refugee crisis hit the EU and the group powered into three state legislatures...

Tanya Mityushina Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Video 2016

She's amazing.



PREVIOUSLY: "Tanya Mityushina Outtakes Sports Illustrated 2016 (VIDEO)."

Don Watkins and Yaron Brook, Equal Is Unfair

Out today.

At Amazon, Equal Is Unfair: America's Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality.

Campus Administrators and Activists Don’t Like Yik Yak

Heh.

I'm not even on Yik Yak, but maybe I should be lol.

See Glenn Reynolds, "How PC culture is killing higher education":

The Emory protesters managed to fill a conference room and meet with Emory President James Wagner, but they don’t actually represent the feelings of Emory students overall. He observes: “On Yik Yak, a social media app popular among college students in large part because it permits anonymous speech, the Emory student reaction to the chalk controversy wasn’t mixed, as often happens when one views that platform during a campus controversy. It was clearly, overwhelmingly antagonistic to the student activists.”

Freed from a fear that student “activists” — and their allies in the university’s Student Life and Diversity offices — might punish them, students expressed their true feelings, and they demonstrate that the “activists” are a small, unrepresentative slice that is being indulged at the expense of the university as a whole. (This is probably why so many campus administrations and activists don’t like Yik Yak: It allows students to express themselves without fear of repercussions.)

More.

PREVIOUSLY: "Donald Trump Chalk Microaggressions."

Britney Spears Flaunts Bikini Body on Hawaii Vacation

At London's Daily Mail, "No Photoshop here! Britney Spears flaunts her bikini body as she vacations in Hawaii... after being accused of altering tanning pic."

Deal of the Day: NordicTrack GX 4.7 Exercise Bike

It's a beautiful bike.

At Amazon, NordicTrack GX 4.7 Exercise Bike: Step thru design. Innovative design eliminates the traditional bike base so it's easy to get on and off the recumbent bike. Get started on your workout quickly and easily.

Plus, Chamberlain Whisper Drive Garage Door Opener with MyQ Technology and Battery Backup.

Also, Save on Electronic Accessories from Anker.

BONUS: Laura Poitras, ed., Astro Noise: A Survival Guide for Living Under Total Surveillance.

Catholic Priest Thomas Uzhunnalil Crucified by Islamic State on Good Friday

It's almost unbelievable to me, but then it's all too predictable at the same time.

At London's Daily Mail, "ISIS 'crucifies Catholic priest on Good Friday' after kidnapping him from old people's home where four nuns were shot dead."

And at Pamela's, "Easter in the Islamic State: ISIS crucify Catholic priest." (Via Memeorandum.)

Tracing the Roots of a Modern Populism

From Salena Zito, at RCP (via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit):

VIENNA, Ohio - Frank Bellamy didn't realize he was getting caught up in a populist movement when he started paying attention last July to what Donald Trump said.

“I just knew that I felt as though he was speaking to me, about my pursuit of the American dream,” Bellamy said.

The black businessman, 62, stood in a crowd of several thousand people at a Mahoning Valley airport hangar with daughter Francesca, 11, waiting to hear the billionaire businessman speak.

All around him, very happy Trump supporters shared his enthusiasm. The anger that became a hallmark of recent Trump events infiltrated by protesters was absent. But that clearly was not true of this crowd's populist fervor.

Populism has been part of American politics almost since the country's beginnings.

In fact, it was a common characteristic of Democratic Party politics for ages. President Andrew Jackson famously invited a mob of supporters into the White House to celebrate his inauguration in 1829; table china was broken, furniture ruined and a huge block of cheese eaten (really).

Certainly, this represents a kind of populism.

The heyday of the Democrats' populism occurred at the turn of the 20th century when William Jennings Bryan co-opted the People's Party platform. Bryan's fiery “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democrats' 1896 convention in Chicago was populist to the core; it propelled Bryan to the top of the party's presidential ticket that year. He lost that election, just as he lost the elections of 1900 and 1908 when he again was the Democrats' standard-bearer.

So, populists have been nominated for president before by major political parties. They've just never won. Not yet.

Political scientist John Gerring suggests that Democrats did not shift away from their historic populist orientation until 1952. This, of course, followed the “Dixiecrat” populist rebellion of 1948 and preceded George Wallace's populist-oriented revolt from the party in 1968.

Given that politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum, the Republican Party began integrating populist themes into its anti-statist worldview in the 1970s, according to Baylor University political science professor Curt Nichols: “This was a time when the Supreme Court was ruling against school prayer and for abortion. As one adviser of the time noted, ‘All things Catholic are good politics for Republicans.' ”

The outcome was unavoidable: Populist-based appeals ensued...

Keep reading.

Zito's been on the case for years. See this Twitter thread for an interesting discussion.

Donald Trump Chalk Microaggressions

It's getting to the point that it's almost embarrassing to admit that I'm a college professor, sheesh.

Fortunately, most of the PC leftist idiocy hasn't yet filtered down to the community college level, at least not at a level of critical mass. Most students in my classes aren't that hip on a lot of the stuff going on at the infected universities. They're often shocked at the inanities when we discuss current events in class.

Heh, maybe there's still hope.

At Fox News, "Students terrified by 'Trump 2016' chalk drawings."

And at Instapundit, "AN OPEN LETTER TO EMORY UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT JAMES WAGNER from Concerned Emory Alumni."

Terror in Pakistan: At Least 70 Killed as Taliban Jihadists Target Christians on Easter (VIDEO)

The number of fatalities keeps getting bigger.

At LAT, "Taliban says it targeted Christians in a park on Easter Sunday, killing 70."

Also, at Telegraph UK, "Pakistan terror attack: 72 dead after suicide bomber strikes children's play area in Lahore."

The Challenge of Easter

Such a beautiful essay, at WSJ.

#Easter resists commercialism because its story makes a radical claim, says @JamesMartinSJ https://t.co/CvDs06BmnJ pic.twitter.com/CoOSguNtwX

— WSJ Life & Culture (@WSJLife) March 26, 2016

.@JamesMartinSJ eloquent on Easter @WSJ https://t.co/wLD7zJ59sN pic.twitter.com/ZhsLbXLb1L

— Nick Ripatrazone (@nickripatrazone) March 26, 2016

The Consequences of Anti-Zionism

Israel-hatred will not spare you from Islamic jihad.

From Caroline Glick.

California Poll: Donald Trump Holds 2-1 Lead in Golden State, 38-19 Percent

Hmm, pretty impressive, but the 2-1 statistic includes Marco Rubio among the candidate choices. Cruz pops up to 27 percent with recalculation.

It's a new poll out from the Public Policy Institute of California.

See the Sacramento Bee, "Poll: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton lead in California":

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leads his GOP rivals in California less than three months before the primary, according to a statewide survey released late Wednesday.

The Public Policy Institute of California poll showed support for Trump at 38 percent among likely Republican voters, followed by Ted Cruz at 19 percent and John Kasich at 12 percent. Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who ended his presidential bid last week, received 12 percent in the poll taken March 6 to March 15.

With the totals recalculated to account for Rubio’s departure, Trump remained at 38 percent while support for Cruz grew to 27 percent and Kasich to 14 percent. Under that scenario, Trump, a billionaire businessman and political newcomer, bests the others with voters across all age, education, gender and income groups.

The survey comes as California Republicans, a beleaguered lot in this heavily Democratic state, find themselves in the unlikely situation of possibly deciding the fate of their presidential nominee on June 7. The Republican presidential primary, unlike down-ticket contests, is closed to all non-GOP voters...

Keep reading.

'Never Surrender'

Check out John Kelly, Never Surrender: Winston Churchill and Britain's Decision to Fight Nazi Germany in the Fateful Summer of 1940.

Republican Party Beltway Barnacles Are Right to Be Worried (VIDEO)

It's Pat Buchanan, at Fox News:

Don't Forget About Dana Loesch's New Book, Flyover Nation: You Can't Run a Country You've Never Been To

I'm excited to get my hands on a copy.

Pre-order, at Amazon, Flyover Nation: You Can't Run a Country You've Never Been To.

After Brussels, There's Really No Discussion of Who Our Enemy Is (VIDEO)

Here's Brian Lilley, at the Rebel Media. A great clip:

My Buddy Tyler Featured in NBC News L.A. Tweet on Mt. Sac Bomb Threat

Here's my buddy Tyler chilling during the bomb threat at Mt. San Antonio College.

A @MtSAC professor waits in the parking lot following the school's evacuation. Credit: Allie Frickert-Murashige pic.twitter.com/PS1vo2P2Jz

— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) March 24, 2016

#BREAKING: Mt. San Antonio College evacuated, Walnut HS locked down due to reported bomb threat.

— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) March 24, 2016

Background here, "Bomb Threat Forces Evacuation of Mt. San Antonio College."