Deal of the Day: TCP LED A19 60W Equivalent Daylight (5000K) Bulbs

Nice bulbs.

At Amazon, TCP LA1050KND6 LED A19 - 60 Watt Equivalent Daylight (5000K) Light Bulb - 6 Pack.

Plus, TP-LINK Wi-Fi Smart Plug, Works with Amazon Echo, Turn On/Off Your Electronics From Anywhere (HS100).

More, Etekcity 11lb/5kg Digital Kitchen Food Scale, Stainless Steel, Alarm Timer & Temperature Sensor.

Also, from Diana West, The Death of the Grown-Up: How America's Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization.

And from Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy.

BONUS: Kim R. Holmes, The Closing of the Liberal Mind: How Groupthink and Intolerance Define the Left.

Germany Turns Right (VIDEO)

From Jan-Werner Müller, at the New York Review of Books, "Behind the New German Right":

Throughout its postwar history, Germany somehow managed to resist the temptations of right-wing populism. Not any longer. On March 13, the “Alternative for Germany” (AfD)—a party that has said it may be necessary to shoot at migrants trying to enter the country illegally and that has mooted the idea of banning mosques—scored double-digit results in elections in three German states; in one, Saxony-Anhalt, the party took almost a quarter of the vote. For some observers, the success of the AfD is just evidence of Germany’s further “normalization”: other major countries, such as France, have long had parties that oppose European integration and condemn the existing political establishment for failing properly to represent the people—why should Germany be an exception?

Such complacency is unjustified, for at least two reasons: the AfD has fed off and in turn encouraged a radical street movement, the “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West,” or Pegida, that has no equivalent elsewhere in Europe. And perhaps most important, the AfD’s warnings about the “slow cultural extinction” of Germany that supposedly will result from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcoming of more than a million refugees have been echoed by a number of prominent intellectuals. In fact, the conceptual underpinnings for what one AfD ideologue has called “avant-garde conservatism” can be found in the recent work of several mainstream German writers and philosophers. Never since the end of the Nazi era has a right-wing party enjoyed such broad cultural support. How did this happen?

The AfD was founded in 2013 by a group of perfectly respectable, deeply uncharismatic economics professors. Its very name, Alternative for Germany, was chosen to contest Angela Merkel’s claim that there was no alternative to her policies to address the eurocrisis.The professors opposed the euro, since, in their eyes, it placed excessive financial burdens on the German taxpayer and sowed discord among European states. But they did not demand the dissolution of the European Union itself in the way right-wing populists elsewhere in Europe have done. Still, Germany’s mainstream parties sought to tar them as “anti-European,” which reinforced among many voters the sense that the country’s political establishment made discussion of certain policy choices effectively taboo. Like other new parties, the AfD attracted all kinds of political adventurers. But it also provided a home for conservatives who thought that many of Merkel’s policies—ending nuclear energy and the military draft, endorsing same-sex unions, and raising the minimum wage—had moved her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) too far to the left. Since there was a mainstream conservative view opposing many of these decisions, the AfD could now occupy space to the right of the CDU without suspicion of being undemocratic or of harking back to the Nazi past.

The AfD narrowly failed to enter the German parliament in 2013, but managed to send seven deputies to Brussels after the 2014 elections to the European Parliament, where they joined an alliance of Euroskeptic parties led by Britain’s conservatives. With outward success came internal strife. Young right-wingers challenged the AfD’s professors with initiatives such as the “Patriotic Platform,” which appeared closer to the nationalist far right than an authentically conservative CDU. In summer 2015, most of the founders of the AfD walked away; one expressed his regret about having created a “monster.” The AfD seemed destined to follow the path of so many protest parties, brought down by infighting, a lack of professionalism, and the failure to nurture enough qualified personnel to do the day-to-day parliamentary politics it would have to engage in to become more than a flash in the pan.

And then the party was saved by Angela Merkel. Or so the AfD’s new, far more radical leaders have been saying ever since the chancellor announced her hugely controversial refugee policy last summer. At the time, her decision was widely endorsed, but in the months since, her support has declined precipitously—while the AfD’s has surged. Many fear that the German state is losing control of the situation, and blame Merkel for failing to negotiate a genuinely pan-European approach to the crisis. Alexander Gauland, a senior former CDU politician and now one of the most recognizable AfD leaders—he cultivates the appearance of a traditional British Tory, including tweed jackets and frequent references to Edmund Burke—has called the refugee crisis a “gift” for the AfD.

Others have gone further. Consider the statements of Beatrix von Storch, a countess from Lower Saxony who is one of the AfD’s deputies to the European Parliament, where she just joined the group that includes UKIP and the far right Sweden Democrats. A promoter of both free-market ideas and Christian fundamentalism she has gone on record as saying that border guards might have to use firearms against refugees trying illegally to cross the border—including women and children. After much criticism, she conceded that children might be exempted, but not women.

Such statements are meant to exploit what the AfD sees as a broadening fear among voters that the new arrivals pose a deep threat to German culture. The AfD will present a full-fledged political program after a conference at the very end of April, but early indications are that there will be a heavy emphasis on preventing what the party views as the Islamization of Germany. A draft version of the program contains phrases such as “We are and want to remain Germans”—and the real meaning of such platitudes is then made concrete with the call to prohibit the construction of minarets. It is here that the orientation of AfD and the far more strident, anti-Islam Pegida movement most clearly overlap...

Keep reading.

Chacha the Chimp (VIDEO)

A pretty amazing animal, totally out of his natural environment.

At Toronto's National Post, "Video captures moment a fugitive chimp falls from power line after desperate bid to avoid zoo workers."

And watch, at RT, "Dramatic high-altitude chase as chimp goes on the loose in Japan."

ICYMI, Mother's Day Shop

At Amazon, Shop Fashion - Mother's Day Shop.

Also, from Barry Rubin, Silent Revolution: How the Left Rose to Political Power and Cultural Dominance.

BONUS: Kim R. Holmes, The Closing of the Liberal Mind: How Groupthink and Intolerance Define the Left.

Deal of the Day: 75% Off This HP EliteDesk 705-G1 Mini Desktop

Sounds hot.

At Amazon, HP EliteDesk 705-G1 Mini Desktop, AMD A8-7600B 2.2GHz Quad-Core, 8GB DDR3, 256GB Solid State Drive, 802.11n, Win7Pro 64-Bit.

Also, Up to 70% Off Select Emerson Ceiling Fans.

And, Fallout 4 for Personal Computers.

Plus, ICYMI, Kim R. Holmes, The Closing of the Liberal Mind: How Groupthink and Intolerance Define the Left.

More, from Greg Lukianoff, Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate.

Still more, from the late Barry Rubin, Silent Revolution: How the Left Rose to Political Power and Cultural Dominance.

BONUS: Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism.

Democrats Campaign in New York (VIDEO)

Via CBS News 2 New York:




RELATED: At the New York Times, "Bernie Sanders, in New York, Presses Fight Against ‘Status Quo’."

Out April 26th: Andrea Tantaros, Tied Up in Knots

She's so awesome.

Pre-order at Amazon, Tied Up in Knots: How Getting What We Wanted Made Women Miserable.

#ResistCapitalism

What would leftists do without capitalism?

I'm serious. That is a legitimate question that demands serious answers. If we could get some real, honest answers and disseminate those widely, we might once and for all be able to get rid of leftism.

God, what a breakthrough that would be!

#ResistCapitalism pic.twitter.com/mYkBHmXMdu

— Countermoonbat (@CounterMoonbat) April 9, 2016

'I was one of the women who tried to stand up to reality TV star and Skinny Girl Vodka founder, Bethenny Frankel, at a women’s entrepreneurial summit over the weekend. And was silenced...'

Wild.

At PuffHo Black Voices:

Bethenny gives lesson in how NOT to empower a room full of women founders -- by @msmarypryor https://t.co/BRrY5cFzGs pic.twitter.com/KaLUZfi66r

— HuffPost BlackVoices (@blackvoices) April 13, 2016

(1) To the organizers of @RenttheRunway #PEIntensive16 and their events this weekend I applaud the diverse room of women thanks to @UBS

— Mary Pryor (@msmarypryor) April 11, 2016

(2) However #PEIntensive16's keynote via @Bethenny was offensive and wrong NOT proper for a room full of female founders

— Mary Pryor (@msmarypryor) April 11, 2016

(3) I along with another ally of color stood up to address how offensive @Bethenny was to not just us but the entire room #PEIntensive16

— Mary Pryor (@msmarypryor) April 11, 2016

(4) For @Bethenny to insist that a young, Black female founder "Find a white guy" to rep her biz is a racial microaggression #PEIntensive16

— Mary Pryor (@msmarypryor) April 11, 2016

(5) For #PEIntensive16 to not issue an apology to the women of color in the room that were offended by her statement bothers me

— Mary Pryor (@msmarypryor) April 11, 2016

(6) I am tired of being asked to be present in the room for female founders events & have my voice SHUT DOWN #PEIntensive16 @RentTheRunway

— Mary Pryor (@msmarypryor) April 11, 2016

Still more tweets at the article.

I don't know how this woman lived to tell her story after those devastating racial microaggressions?

White Male Dominance in Journalism

Um, okay.

Sarah Kendzior tweeted yesterday.

The Guardian study's hidden lesson: trolls reinforce white male dominance in journalism https://t.co/yeAQrDn331 Nice work from @amandataub

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) April 13, 2016

I saw earlier the Guardian's investigation of their own commenters on their website, and yawned.

Stacey Poole Wishes You Good Morning!

Via Twitter:

@HottestHunnies @GloverWatts @FaShaow @FranceNympho @DrRichardRotten @TheDirtyRichard @Glamour_Elite @LucyPMichelleM pic.twitter.com/65RdjDsazZ

— Stacey Poole fan (@Stacey_poolefan) April 13, 2016

Feeling the Bern of Reality

Heh.

Feel the Bern.

From Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, on LinkedIn, "Feeling the Bern of Reality — The Facts About Verizon and the ‘Moral Economy’" (via Memeorandum):

I read with interest Jeff Immelt’s spirited response to Sen. Bernie Sanders putting GE on his hit-list of big corporations that are “destroying the moral fabric” of America.

In fact, I share his frustration. Verizon is in Sanders’s bull’s-eye, as well. The senator’s uninformed views are, in a word, contemptible. Here’s why.

His first accusation – that Verizon doesn’t pay its fair share of taxes – is just plain wrong. As our financial statements clearly show, we’ve paid more than $15.6 billion in taxes over the last two years – that’s a 35% tax rate in 2015, for anyone who’s counting. We’ve laid out the facts repeatedly and did so again yesterday (see “Sen. Sanders needs to get his facts straight” at Verizon.com/about/news). The senator has started to fudge his language – talking of taxes not paid in some unspecified “given year” – but that doesn’t make his contention any less false.

Sen. Sanders also claims that Verizon doesn’t use its profits to benefit America. Again, a look at the facts says otherwise. In the last two years, Verizon has invested some $35 billion in infrastructure -- virtually all of it in the U.S. -- and paid out more than $16 billion in dividends to the millions of average Americans who invest in our stock. In Sanders’s home state of Vermont alone, Verizon has invested more than $16 million in plant and equipment and pays close to $42 million a year to vendors and suppliers, many of them small and medium-sized businesses. Just yesterday, we announced a $300 million investment to bring fiber to the city of Boston, which will make it one of the most technologically advanced cities in the nation and expand broadband access for its residents. Boston’s Mayor Walsh is partnering with us on this initiative, calling it crucial for providing the foundation for future technology growth. We’re making significant investments in New York City, Philadelphia and other metro areas throughout our wireline footprint.

Verizon is one of the top 3 capital investors in all corporate America. Our investment has built wireless and fiber networks that deliver high-quality services, create high-tech jobs and form the infrastructure for the innovation economy of the 21st century.

I challenge Sen. Sanders to show me a company that’s done more to invest in America than Verizon...

Well, you get the picture, heh.

Still more, in any case.

RELATED: At Memeorandum, "Hillary Clinton rakes in Verizon cash while Bernie Sanders supports company's striking workers."

Corey Lewandowski Will Not Be Prosecuted

This is interesting, and problematic for Michelle Fields and her #NeverTrump enablers.

At Politico, "Trump campaign manager will not be prosecuted, sources say" (via Memeorandum):

Reporter who accused Corey Lewandowski of battery may still pursue defamation case. A Florida prosecutor has decided not to prosecute Donald Trump’s campaign manager for battery after a March run-in with former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, sources with knowledge of the situation told POLITICO.

The decision not to press charges against Corey Lewandowski is scheduled to be announced on Thursday afternoon by Palm Beach County State Attorney David Aronberg.

Fields may still pursue a defamation case against Lewandowski, a source said.

Fields filed a police report last month after Lewandowski grabbed her by the arm and moved her out of Trump’s way following a press conference at Trump National Gold Club in Jupiter. She said he left bruises on her arm. Police later charged Lewandowski with simple battery, releasing video from surveillance cameras that shows Lewandowski reaching for and grabbing Fields.

Aronberg would not comment, but in a POLITICO interview last week, he pointed out that Jupiter police had a low “probable cause” standard to cite Lewandowski for battery. But the responsibility for moving forward with a full-blown prosecution rested with Aronberg’s office, which had to consider whether a crime occurred and whether they believed a jury of Floridians would prosecute...

Translation: The prosecutor doesn't have squat.

Michelle Fields wasn't pleased that the story leaked before she heard back from the relevant parties.

Prosecutor's office told me they would inform me of decision tomorrow. If reports true, guess they decided to leak to reporters first. Ugly.

— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) April 14, 2016

For those asking, office of prosecutor asked 2 weeks ago if I'd be ok with an apology from Corey. I said ya but haven't heard back about it

— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) April 14, 2016

I think I'll pass on getting legal advice from a Trump shill. Thanks tho. https://t.co/YoPznOC9LB

— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) April 14, 2016

Fields was responding to Greta Van Susteren:

Michelle Fields should not bring a civil law suit @piersmorgan

— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) April 14, 2016

anyone who has had ANY experience in criminal courts knew the DA would not prosecute Lewandowski based on that video @CLewandowski_

— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) April 14, 2016

Terrible that some in the media pushed her to this https://t.co/JNoAP4s3bn

— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) April 14, 2016

It was not brilliance that predicted DA would not prosecute Michelle Fields' claims, it was experience

— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) April 14, 2016

Anyone in the media telling Michelle Fields to prosecute that claim was using her;

— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) April 14, 2016

Hadas Gold had the scoop for Politico:

If you cite us, I will love you forever. https://t.co/lNu84WGd3H

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) April 13, 2016

Currencies Across Asia Fall Sharply Against U.S. Dollar

At WSJ:

Currencies across Asia including the Chinese yuan dropped sharply against the U.S. dollar Thursday, with markets caught off-guard as the Singapore central bank restrained the appreciation of its currency to stoke growth.

The yuan saw its biggest one-day depreciation since January, and the Singapore dollar fell by the most within a day this year. Meanwhile, the South Korean won weakened after the ruling party lost its parliamentary majority.

Asian currencies had firmed up against the greenback in recent weeks, partly thanks to the Federal Reserve having signaled it would raise interest rates at a slower rate this year than previously expected. Economic policy makers from the Group of 20 nations had pledged at a meeting in February to avoid sparking a currency war through competitive devaluation.

A weakening of the yuan against the U.S. dollar in its daily fix weighed on currencies across the region, after a 0.46% depreciation—the biggest since January.

The region’s currency markets had started the day on the back foot as traders assessed first the impact of South Korea’s elections, followed by Singapore’s surprise easing.

Movements of the yuan fix, which determines the levels at which the currency can trade inside mainland China, have recently been more determined by market forces. Today’s depreciation reflects strength in the U.S. dollar on Wednesday.

Thursday’s yuan depreciation was the biggest since Jan. 7, when markets had speculated that moves to weaken the yuan could trigger a global currency war. Competitive currency devaluation hasn’t materialized among major economies since then, but other central banks in smaller countries in Asia are loosening policy in the meantime.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore became the latest to surprise markets by easing its policy stance as it warned of threats to growth. The Singapore dollar fell as much as 1.1% to 1.3654 against the U.S. dollar, the biggest intraday move since mid-December.

The Korean won weakened 0.7% to 1153.305 to the dollar after South Korea’s ruling party lost its parliamentary majority, raising doubts about the government’s ability to push ahead with economic reforms.

“The Singapore economy is projected to expand at a more modest pace in 2016 than envisaged in the October policy review,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement. The central bank also forecast a decline of between 0% and 1% this year in headline consumer price inflation, which has been falling every month since November 2014 as a result of measures intended to cool the economy. It warned, too, that any pickup this year in core inflation, which strips out the cost of private road transport and accommodation, may be less than previously anticipated.

Singapore’s central bank flattened the expected appreciation of the Singapore dollar, setting the rate of appreciation of its nominal effective exchange rate to zero. Previously, it had been set to gradually strengthen to avoid importing inflation from overseas. The Singapore dollar trades in a band against a basket of currencies.

In easing, Singapore’s central bank was following others around Asia. India, New Zealand and Indonesia have all cut interest rates in the past six weeks, and Japan implemented negative interest rates on some deposits earlier this year.

The International Monetary Fund lowered its global growth forecasts for the year ahead to 3.2% this week, down 0.2 percentage point from projections issued in January...

More (and don't miss the cool graphics at the click-through).

Amber Lee's Thursday Forecast

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Deal of the Day: Save on Saucony Running Shoes

At Amazon, 40% Off Saucony Running Shoes.

More, Saucony Men's Guide 9 Running Shoe and Saucony Women's Triumph ISO 2 Running Shoe.

Also, Futurama: The Complete Series on DVD.

More, from Fredrik Logevall, Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam.

And from Neal Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam.

Still more, from Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History.

BONUS: Christian Appy, American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity.

Donald Trump Has Realist Foreign Policy

Well, that's reassuring, lol.

From leftist Rosa Brooks, at Foreign Policy, "Donald Trump Has a Coherent, Realist Foreign Policy":

Despite the bluster, Trump is articulating a bold vision of America’s role in the world. And it demands a serious response — not the snickering of D.C. elites.

Oh, Donald, bless your heart! You keep on saying those wild and crazy things, the media keeps on snickering, and you just keep on blustering. A grateful nation thanks you. If you weren’t around, we’d probably have to talk about Ted Cruz instead, and that would be no fun at all.

But my editors here at Foreign Policy have asked me to get serious and write about what U.S. foreign policy would look like if the White House should ever sprout an enormous gold sign reading, “TRUMP.” This has not been a simple assignment, because there is a Trump for every possible policy position.

Where to start?

Well, if Donald Trump becomes president, we might have a nuclear war — or, then again, we might not. On the one hand, Trump tells us, “It’s a very scary nuclear world. Biggest problem, to me, in the world, is nuclear, and proliferation.” On the other hand, if Japan and South Korea decide to develop their own nuclear weapons, that’s probably fine, and we “may very well be better off.” On the third hand, “nuclear should be off the table,” when it comes to a potential U.S. first use of nuclear weapons. On the fourth hand, you never know: We might need to use nukes inside Europe, which would not be so sad because “Europe is a big place” and can easily afford to lose a few small nations to radioactive fallout.

Anyhoo. Let’s discuss NATO, which, admittedly, is not a very interesting subject. Trump “would support NATO,” but because he too feels that it is not interesting, he “would not care that much” whether or not Ukraine joins the alliance. “I don’t mind NATO per se,” he explains; it’s just “obsolete” and full of free-riders “ripping off the United State.” But que sera, sera! If getting rid of freeloaders “breaks up NATO, it breaks up NATO.” Still, perhaps the treaty organization can be “reconstituted” and “modernized.” He adds, “We need to either transition into terror, or we need something else, because we have to get countries together.” I don’t think Trump meant that NATO should transition into a terrorist organization — on the “fight fire with fire” principle — but who can say?

Moving right along: Under President Trump, the United States would show the terrorists who’s boss by bringing back waterboarding and “a hell of a lot worse.” He would also “bomb the hell out of ISIS,” and if that doesn’t do the trick, he would go after the wives and children of Islamic State fighters, because “with the terrorists, you have to take out their families.” Ordering the U.S. military to use torture or deliberately target civilians would, of course, be illegal, but the military would gladly obey any order coming from President Trump: “I’m a leader. I’ve always been a leader.… If I say do it, they’re going to do it.” On the fifth or sixth hand, maybe not: Trump swears that he’ll be “bound by laws, just like all Americans.”

Regardless, under President Trump, the U.S. military would be very strong, but it would never be used, unless we do use it. Right now, Trump confides, the U.S. military is “a disaster,” decimated and weak...

Keep reading.

Vivian Malauulu Beats Incumbent Irma Archuleta in Race for LBCC District Board Election

This is good news for my faculty union, which has been campaigning hard to elect a pro-faculty majority to the college's elected board of trustees. With Malauulu's election, the college will now have two strongly pro-faculty members of the board

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Long Beach election: Doug Otto, Vivian Malauulu win LBCC races."

Baby Sees Mom's Face for the First Time with Eyeglasses (VIDEO)

I almost started to cry watching this video.

So precious.

Dispatches From the Left's War on Bathrooms

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit.

Red State and Maggie's Farm linked there.