Deal of the Day: Noon Virtual Reality Headset [BUMPED]

At Amazon, NOON VR - Virtual Reality Headset (NVRG-01).

And, Thermos Back to School Sale.

Also, Michael Holt, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War.

Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes: The Way to the White House.

More, from John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, and Double Down: Game Change 2012.

John Sides and Lynn Vavreck, The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election.

BONUS: Theodore White, The Making of the President 1960.

Khizr Khan Scrubs Law Firm's Website from the Internet

Heh.

You think he might've thought about this before trashing Donald Trump?

At Breitbart, "Panic Mode: Khizr Khan Deletes Law Firm Website that Specialized in Muslim Immigration."

Also, at Pat Dollard, "EXPOSED: Unhinged Trump Hater Khizr Khan Is A Muslim Brotherhood Agent Pushing Sharia, Immigration Jihad."

Walid Shoebat's doing the yeoman's work on this. I linked him up here, "Kizhr Khan Khantroversy Nontroversy."

Long and Difficult Battle to Beat 'Entrenched' Islamic State in Libya (VIDEO)

I think we're getting a little "wag the dog" action from the Obama White House.

It's not like ISIS just hunkered down in Libya yesterday, or anything.

At WSJ, "Libya, U.S. Face Entrenched Islamic State":

Even with the U.S. launching airstrikes on an Islamic State stronghold in Libya, the battle to uproot the extremists from the oil-rich North African nation is expected to be long and difficult.

The U.S. began the attacks on Monday and struck again on Tuesday in support of a ground offensive to retake Sirte, a strategic port on the Mediterranean coast. But Islamic State is also entrenched in other pockets across the country, including parts of the eastern city of Benghazi, Libya’s second largest; Derna, another eastern city; and the western town of Sabratha, near the Tunisian border.

The competing militias and centers of power that have stoked Libya’s civil war complicate the fight against Islamic State. The chaos has given the group an opening to gain its first territorial foothold outside its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

Libya has two rival governments—one that is internationally recognized in the capital, Tripoli, and another based in the east. The competing governments so far have refused to work together to defeat Islamic State or toward national unity, despite international efforts.

President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he hopes combating Islamic State will help move Libya toward a functioning government, something he said would be “a long process.”

Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said that Mr. Obama’s authorization is limited to using U.S. air power to help Libyan forces allied with the Tripoli government retake Sirte.

In the quest to defeat Islamic State in Libya, international and regional powers have haphazardly supported competing factions, worsening the protracted civil war that allows the insurgents to thrive, said Abubaker Baira, a parliamentarian representing the eastern government.

“Unfortunately all sides of the Libyan conflict happily open their doors to this so-called military or political support, even if covertly, in the hope it will empower them against their domestic enemies,” Mr. Baira said. “What they don’t seem to realize is this only further entrenches this civil war that has gone on too long already.”

Western officials have worried that Islamic State was trying to establish Libya as a fallback alternative to its shrinking territory in Syria and Iraq, where it captured a large swath of territory in 2014...

More.

And flashback, "Obama's Libya Intervention Created North Africa's Worst Terror State, Drug Trafficker, and Arms Exporter."

Iraq Veteran Gives Donald Trump His Purple Heart at Virginia Campaign Rally (VIDEO)

Hmm, I'm sure this will be all over the news today.

At McClatchy, "Trump receives Purple Heart from veteran: ‘This was much easier’":

Trump told the audience during his rally that “something very nice just happened to me. A man came up to me and he handed me his Purple Heart.”

As the audience aahed, Trump continued: “I said to him, ‘Is that like the real one or is that a copy? And he said, ‘That’s my real Purple Heart. I have such confidence in you.’”

“And I said, ‘Man that’s big stuff.’ I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier, but I tell you it was such an honor.”

Trump, who identified the veteran as retired Lt. Col. Louis Dorfman, then brought him up on stage and shook hands, holding the award up again for the crowd. According to records, Dorfman was wounded in action in November 2007 in Iraq.

The giving of the Purple Heart followed a days-long feud in the press between Trump and the family of Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq in 2004...

More.

How Danish Bombshell Nina Agdal Stays in Shape While Still Having Fun? (VIDEO)

Via the New York Post, she's got a great champagne-vodka theory, heh.

Khizr Khan's Saudi Ties

From Robert Spencer, at FrontPage Magazine:

Are the Saudis trying to make sure that the candidate of their choice is elected President of the United States this November?

Khizr Khan is more than just the father of slain Muslim U.S. serviceman Humayun Khan and the mainstream media’s flavor of the moment in its ongoing efforts to demonize and destroy Donald Trump. As far as the Obama administration and Hillary campaign are concerned, he is a living validation of the success of their strategy against “extremism”: by refusing to identify the enemy as having anything to do with Islam, they draw moderate Muslims to their side and move them to fight against terrorism. By contrast, Trump, in their view, alienates these moderates and drives them into the arms of the terrorists.

That all sounds great. There’s just one catch: Khizr Khan, and the Clinton campaign, have extensive ties to the Saudis – far more extensive than any possible connection that Donald Trump’s campaign may have had to Russia’s alleged involvement in the leak of emails that revealed that the entire Democratic Party presidential nominating process was rigged from the start. Not that the mainstream media will pause from speculating about Trump and the Russians long enough to tell you any facts about Khizr Khan, Hillary and the Saudis.

Intelius records that Khizr Khan has worked at Hogan Lovells Llp. According to the Washington Free Beacon, “Hogan Lovells LLP, another U.S. firm hired by the Saudis, is registered to work for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia through 2016, disclosures show. Robert Kyle, a lobbyist from the firm, has bundled $50,850 for Clinton’s campaign.”

The Free Beacon added that the Saudi government has “supplied the Clinton Foundation with millions. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has given between $10 and $25 million to the foundation while Friends of Saudi Arabia has contributed between $1 and $5 million.”

And so we were treated to the spectacle of an employee of a firm that is registered to work for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia lambasting Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention, and then (lo and behold!) becoming a media darling as he excoriates Trump for his “black soul.”

Might the government of Saudi Arabia, which has spent countless bullions of dollars spreading the virulent and violent Wahhabi strain of Islam around the world, have any interest in making sure that a presidential candidate who speaks more forthrightly about the Islamic terror threat than any presidential candidate has since John Quincy Adams, and who has vowed to take concrete steps to counter that threat, is defeated? Is that why Khizr Khan, brimming with self-righteous indignation and misleading disinformation about the relationship of Islamic jihad terrorism to Islam, was not only featured at the Democratic National Convention but has dominated the news cycle ever since?

This has gone on long enough. The 28-page section of the 9/11 report detailing Saudi involvement in the September 11, 2001 jihad attacks were just finally released (albeit with substantial portions still redacted), after being kept classified for fifteen years by one President who held hands with the Saudi King and another who bowed to him. And for fifteen years, the U.S. has done little or nothing to free itself from dependence upon Saudi oil and develop alternative energy sources. Why not? We know the Saudis have kept the Clintons’ palms abundantly greased. Who else’s?

The big story of foreign influence in this presidential election is not some vague imaginings about the Russians supposedly hacking Democratic National Committee emails showing the Democrats engaged in indisputably unethical behavior. The real foreign influence story in this election involves the Saudis and the Democrats. Saudi influence in Washington must end. Khizr Khan represents an all-out effort by the mainstream media and the Democratic Party establishment to maintain that influence. In light of that, Donald Trump was right to answer his attacks, and should have been even stronger in his responses. It’s time for the United States of America to regain its independence.

The Left's 'Khantroversy' Has Had No Effect on Presidential Race in Battleground Pennsylvania

I first checked Ohio, which is basically tied according to RCP's average of polls for the Buckeye state, although the last surveys there were conducted before the Democrat convention and the Khantroversy.

But battleground Pennsylvania was surveyed by Public Policy Polling from July 29 to 31, so it should show any damage to Donald Trump since the shameless hate-America left started exploiting Kizhr Khan last Thursday. But frankly, it's really nothing.

Hillary Clinton has a narrow lead in the Keystone state.

At PPP, "Clinton has narrow lead in Pennsylvania":

PPP's newest Pennsylvania poll, conducted entirely after the Democratic convention, finds Hillary Clinton with a narrow lead in the state. She's at 45% to 42% for Donald Trump, 4% for Gary Johnson, and 2% for Jill Stein. In a head to head match up just with Trump she leads by 4 points at 49-45.

Both polls- in Pennsylvania and nationally- PPP has done since the Democratic convention basically suggest that the race is back where it was in June. In late June we had Clinton up 46-42 on Trump head to head in Pennsylvania and 48-44 nationally. Clinton now leads 49-45 in Pennsylvania and 50-45 nationally so it appears everything that happened in the month of July had minimal effect on the margins between Clinton and Trump, it just helped move some undecided partisans skeptical of their party's nominees off the fence and toward the candidates they likely would have ended up with anyway.

Hillary Clinton's seen a decent improvement in her image over the last couple months in Pennsylvania. At the beginning of June she had a -21 net favorability rating in the state at 35/56, and that's now improved 8 points to -13 at 40/53. Like we saw nationally Trump's had an improvement in his numbers too but it's not as good as Clinton's- he was at -25 at 34/59 in early June and has now shifted up to -20 at 36/56 for a net 5 point improvement...

PPP didn't survey respondents about Khan, so that's one caveat.

But the poll has a heavy sample of Democrats (49 percent of respondents voted for Obama in 2012 and 41 for Romney).

Given the breakdown, and the enormous media coverage nationally over Khan, Hillary should be up by almost double-digits in Pennsylvania.

It's time for Trump to move on from this fake scandal and get back to hammering the Democrats and the economy and corruption.

Donald Trump Damage Control

Yeah, this is a "Khantroversy," although that doesn't mean it's not damaging Donald Trump.

As I've been saying, he needs to ignore this fight and move on to attacking Hillary in the economy and corruption.

But some are talking like this is the fatal blow, that Trump won't recover this time. I say nah. But there's definitely some damage. And the sooner he's past it the better.

Meanwhile, here's Cathleen Decker's analysis, at the Los Angeles Times, "Trump mired in another day of controversy with family of soldier killed in Iraq":

The threat to Trump’s campaign comes largely in its timing. Fewer than 100 days remain before the general election, putting the campaigns in a period in which stumbles become more dangerous because there is less time to craft a recovery.

As important, any time taken to try to clean up campaign messes pulls attention away from issues with greater political upside. Only when he got to Columbus, Ohio, for example, did Trump mention the meager economic growth figures released last week; any emphasis on them had been obliterated by the feud between Trump and the Khan family...

More.

RELATED: From Stuart Rothenberg, at WaPo, via Memeorandum, "Will GOP officials jump ship on Trump?"

Actually, "GOP officials" have been jumping ship since Trump's inevitability first became clear. The "Khantroversy's" just give 'em another excuse to bail out. Fuck 'em.

Hillary Clinton Up 50 to 42 Percent in NBC/SurveyMonkey Poll

Well, so much for my theory of under-sampling Republicans.

I suspect Hillary's gotten a decent bounce out of Philadelphia.

At NBC News, "Poll: Clinton Support Spikes Following Democratic Convention." (Via Memeorandum.)

So, I can go with that. The Survey Monkey poll's an online non-probability panel, but so far the results look fairly respectable.

And frankly, the race is tightening at the Los Angeles Times Presidential Election Daybreak Poll, with Trump now barely ahead of Clinton, 45.3/43.1.

More at Hot Air.

After Bernie Sanders' Campaign, Pushing the Democrats Farther Left

From the far-left Harold Meyerson, at Dissent, "The Democrats After Bernie."

Actually, the most radical thing proposed in here is breaking up big banks. The rest pretty much sounds like the Democrat platform. I don't think Hillary's all that "centrist" as Meyerson makes her out to be. Bernie pushed her farther to the left, but she didn't go kicking and screaming.

The activists who campaigned for Bernie Sanders are clearly the Democrats’ future. Can they remake the party? https://t.co/vXRlRypqq4

— Dissent Magazine (@DissentMag) July 21, 2016

Which is Better: Socialism or Capitalism? Which One Makes People Kinder and More Caring? (VIDEO)

I see so much hatred on the left, I'd be surprised if anyone but a conservative would be open to this argument.

But he's right.

Watch Dennis Prager, for Prager University:

Khizr and Ghazala Khan 'Trotted Out' for Political Opportunity

It's sickening.

Here's Salena Zito:

I am saddened and unable to watch this grief stricken mother and father trotted out at every turn for a political party to make a point.

— SalenaZito (@SalenaZitoTrib) August 1, 2016

The Road to the White House Lies on the Lincoln Highway

From Salena Zito, a fantastic piece, "The Road to the White House lies on the Lincoln Highway between Ohio and Pennsylvania":

The elections fault line runs along the old highway that connects Cleveland to Philadelphia https://t.co/xohV1f5nN8 pic.twitter.com/FNhCqFYK3s

— SalenaZito (@SalenaZitoTrib) July 31, 2016

Near Chambersburg, on the 437-mile trip over the Lincoln Highway, a man named Eric, 54, sat in a diner and told how politics has impacted his life in a way he never imagined.

“I voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because I truly believed his inspirational vision for this country,” he said. “I really thought he was going to take us all together to the same place.

“Losing my job wasn't Obama's fault — happened long before him.”

By 2012, however, he realized Obama was not the change-agent he once thought. He also realized the economy was never going to return to the way it was; he adjusted, took two full-time jobs, cut back on his family's lifestyle and sat out that year's election.

“Don't get me wrong, his words are still inspirational — they are beautiful, in fact — but his actions are not, and his attitude toward me and my values, my traditions and my work ethic are personal,” Eric said.

He gulped and tears welled in his eyes: “Politics and divisions have ripped my heart out. My kids come home and argue that racism is why I don't like Obama. That's not true, that could not be more untrue, but you can't even argue it, because then your argument becomes that you are racist.”

How could his country do this to him, to his family, he asked. “I have done everything by the book all of my life, and when I was handed a raw deal … I didn't complain, I put my head down and I just found a way to make it work.”

He's not alone...

RTWT.

Why Trump Resonates

Well, it's not like it's a mystery or anything.

Frankly, all the themes Trump's been hitting are now the themes the Democrat-left is jonesing to take up: economic growth, jobs, national security, patriotism. It's kind of a joke, frankly. And of course the media's in Hillary's tank, so that's a double whammy Trump's got to overcome.

He needs to talk about the key issues before the electorate. Don't get sidetracked on these peripheral issues, which the left will just use to bait him.

But see Instapundit, "WHY TRUMP’S MESSAGE IS RESONATING WITH SO MANY VOTERS."

And click though at the link.

Lea Michele for Women's Health Magazine U.K.

Here, "EXCLUSIVE: Lea Michele Talks Selective Veganism, Body Confidence & Getting Naked."

Hat Tip: WWTDD, "Lea Michele Nude Body Honoring the Fallen."

More, at London's Daily Mail, "'I'm not perfect… but I love myself flaws and all': Fitness fan Lea Michele poses completely NAKED as she reveals her secrets to body confidence."

Clinton Retakes Lead Over Trump, 52 to 43 Percent in New CNN Poll (VIDEO)

Call me skeptical of that spread, to say the least.

According to CNN's methodology:

A total of 1,003 adults were interviewed by telephone nationwide by live interviewers calling both landline and cell phones. Among the entire sample, 28% described themselves as Democrats, 24% described themselves as Republicans, and 48% described themselves as independents or members of another party.

I suspect CNN's under-sampled Republicans. Gallup had 28 percent identifying as both Democrat and Republican just over a week ago, with 42 percent identifying as independent. And the NBC/SurveyMonkey poll for the same period had 33 percent Democrats and 29 percent Republicans, with 36 percent independent (and 1 percent undecided).

Here's CNN's write-up, "Post-convention poll: Clinton retakes lead over Trump."

Compare CNN's 52/43 percent to the L.A. Times Presidential Election Daybreak Poll, which tracks the same panel of 3,000 randomly selected respondents through November. Changes in the poll data reflect changes in the opinions among the respondents, not the opinion of a new sample of voters. As of last night, the Times has Trump up over Clinton, 46.2/42.1 percent.

Thus, according to the Times:

Because of the panel design, “we have the same people every time, so changes in the poll are really people changing their minds,” rather than the result of variations in who answers a particular survey, said Arie Kapteyn, the director of the USC Dornsife center, who pioneered the approach for the 2012 election while at Rand Corp.

The panel design typically shows less volatility than traditional polls. Four years ago, it proved more accurate than most other surveys in forecasting the election result, although “maybe that was beginner’s luck,” Kapteyn said.

So, again, as I've been saying, I expect the presidential horse race to even out in the weeks ahead, with Hillary Clinton enjoying a slight advantage in an average of presidential polls. Trump should be considered the underdog, and he's going to get hammered mercilessly by the left-wing press.

Democrats Are Using Khizr Khan to Advance the Cause of Global Islamic Jihad

Following-up from earlier, "Kizhr Khan Khantroversy Nontroversy."

From Robert Spencer, at FrontPage Magazine, "Khizr Khan, Servant of the Global Umma":

The mainstream media is wild with enthusiasm these days over Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim soldier, Humayun Khan, who was killed fighting in Iraq in 2004. Khizr Khan, brimming with self-righteous anger, spoke at the Democratic National Convention, where he delivered what the Washington Post dubbed a “brutal repudiation of Donald Trump.” Trump responded, elevating Khizr Khan to the status of full-fledged flavor-of-the-moment media celebrity. There’s just one catch: Khizr is using his son’s memory not to advance the cause of the United States, as his son apparently died trying to do, but to advance a quite different cause: that of the global umma.

The well-heeled and powerful backers of the global jihad – those who have enabled the Islamic State (ISIS), al-Qaeda, and other jihad groups to grow as powerful as they have today -- are enraged at Donald Trump. They are deeply worried by his call for a temporary moratorium on Muslim immigration into the United States, as that will make it much more difficult for jihadis to get into this country. They are anxious to stigmatize any and all resistance to jihad terror – and so, happily enough for them, is the Democratic Party, which has eagerly signed on to the longtime strategy employed by Islamic supremacist advocacy groups in the U.S., to demonize all effective measures against jihad terror as “bigoted” and “Islamophobic.”

So it was that Khizr Khan, in the full fury of his indignation at the DNC, trotted out a straw man, falsely claiming that Trump wanted to “ban us from this country.” Trump has said nothing about banning Muslim citizens of the U.S. from the country, only about a temporary moratorium on immigration from terror states. Even worse, all the effusive praise being showered on Khizr Khan in the last few days overlooks one central point: he is one man. His family is one family. There are no doubt many others like his, but this fact does not mean that there is no jihad, or that all Muslims in the U.S. are loyal citizens.

Khizr Khan is enraged at Donald Trump, but is Trump really the cause of his problem? Jihad terrorists, not Donald Trump or “Islamophobes,” killed his son in Iraq. And if Donald Trump or anyone else looks upon Muslims in the U.S. military with suspicion, it is with good reason: does any other demographic have as high a rate of treason as Muslims in the U.S. military? In 2003, a convert to Islam, Sgt. Hasan Akbar, murdered two of his commanding officers in Kuwait. In 2009, Major Nidal Malik Hasan murdered 13 Americans at Fort Hood.

Other than those attacks, a Muslim in the U.S. Navy discussed sniper attacks on military personnel. A Muslim U.S. naval engineer allegedly gave an Egyptian agent information on how to sink a U.S. carrier. In 2015, a Muslim National Guard soldier in Illinois planned an Islamic State jihad attack against a U.S. military base. Last February, a U.S. Army enlistee who vowed to “bring the Islamic State straight to your doorstep” pleaded guilty to attempting to detonate a car bomb at Fort Riley military base in Kansas. Just days ago, a U.S. Air Force veteran was convicted of trying to join the Islamic State.

Then there is the U.S. Muslim who gave the Islamic State U.S. military uniforms, combat boots, tactical gear, firearms accessories, and thousands in cash. Where are those uniforms now?

It is good that there are Muslims in the U.S. military who are loyal. But can we have a discussion about those who aren’t, and why they aren’t, and what can be done about it? Such a discussion is vitally necessary, but it wouldn’t serve the classic objective of the global umma, to increase the dar al-Islam (house of Islam) at the dar al-harb (house of war). Nor would an open discussion of Khan’s Sunday morning assertion on Meet the Press that terrorists “have nothing to do with Islam.”

We constantly are told this, but the repetition doesn’t make it true. In the first place, jihadis repeatedly make clear that they think what they’re doing has everything to do with Islam:

“Jihad was a way of life for the Pious Predecessors (Salaf-us-Salih), and the Prophet (SAWS) was a master of the Mujahideen and a model for fortunate inexperienced people. The total number of military excursions which he (SAWS) accompanied was 27. He himself fought in nine of these; namely Badr; Uhud, Al-Muraysi, The Trench, Qurayzah, Khaybar, The Conquest of Makkah, Hunayn and Taif . . . This means that the Messenger of Allah (SAWS) used to go out on military expeditions or send out an army at least every two months.” — Abdullah Azzam, co-founder of al-Qaeda, Join the Caravan, p. 30

“If we follow the rules of interpretation developed from the classical science of Koranic interpretation, it is not possible to condemn terrorism in religious terms. It remains completely true to the classical rules in its evolution of sanctity for its own justification. This is where the secret of its theological strength lies.” — Egyptian scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd

“Many thanks to God, for his kind gesture, and choosing us to perform the act of Jihad for his cause and to defend Islam and Muslims. Therefore, killing you and fighting you, destroying you and terrorizing you, responding back to your attacks, are all considered to be great legitimate duty in our religion.” — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his fellow 9/11 defendants

“Allah on 480 occasions in the Holy Koran extols Muslims to wage jihad. We only fulfil God’s orders. Only jihad can bring peace to the world.” — Taliban terrorist Baitullah Mehsud

“Jihad, holy fighting in Allah’s course, with full force of numbers and weaponry, is given the utmost importance in Islam….By jihad, Islam is established….By abandoning jihad, may Allah protect us from that, Islam is destroyed, and Muslims go into inferior position, their honor is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad is an obligation and duty in Islam on every Muslim.” — Times Square car bomb terrorist Faisal Shahzad

“So step by step I became a religiously devout Muslim, Mujahid — meaning one who participates in jihad.” — Little Rock, Arkansas terrorist murderer Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad

“And now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives, and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad.” — Texas terrorist bomber Khalid Aldawsari

All of these, of course, may be dismissed as “extremists,” although they were also all devout Muslims who were determined to follow their religion properly. And then there are the many passages of the Qur’an exhorting Muslims to commit acts of violence:

2:191-193: “And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel them from where they expelled you; persecution is more grievous than slaying. But fight them not by the Holy Mosque until they should fight you there; then, if they fight you, slay them — such is the recompense of unbelievers, but if they give over, surely Allah is All-forgiving, All-compassionate. Fight them, till there is no persecution and the religion is Allah’s; then if they give over, there shall be no enmity save for evildoers.”

4:89: “They wish that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of them, until they emigrate in the way of Allah; then, if they turn their backs, take them, and slay them wherever you find them; take not to yourselves any one of them as friend or helper.”

Still more.

Donald Trump: 'I'm Afraid the Election is Going to Be Rigged'

He's right to be worried.

I mean, two of the three fall debates are scheduled opposite NFL football games, wtf?

And how about the Kahntroversy nontroversy? Trump needs to ignore the attacks and keep hammering on the economy and Democrat Party corruption.

That's going to be the winning argument. The polls are going to fluctuate.

At WSJ:

Donald Trump: "I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged" https://t.co/XsXg1I12M2

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) August 1, 2016

#BlackLivesMatter Coalition Makes Demands, Wants Reparations for Slavery

Check out the title, heh: "A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice":

Black humanity and dignity requires black political will and power. In response to the sustained and increasingly visible violence against Black communities in the U.S. and globally, a collective of more than 50 organizations representing thousands of Black people from across the country have come together with renewed energy and purpose to articulate a common vision and agenda. We are a collective that centers and is rooted in Black communities, but we recognize we have a shared struggle with all oppressed people; collective liberation will be a product of all of our work.

"Collective liberation."

That's revolutionary rhetoric.

They're communists.



At AP, "Groups affiliated with Black Lives Matter release agenda":

The agenda outlines six demands and offers 40 recommendations on how to address them. To address criminal justice reform, for example, organizers are calling for an end to the type of militarized police presence seen at protests in cities like Ferguson, and the retroactive decriminalization and immediate release of all people convicted of drug offenses, sex work related offense and youth offenses.

The group also is calling for the passage of federal legislation, already proposed in Congress, that would create a commission to study reparations for descendants of slaves...

Angels Pick Up Ricky Nolasco from Twins in Trade for Hector Santiago

Well, I'm not that pleased.

Santiago's been pretty consistent of late, and I know he loved playing for the Angels. He's a patriot who'll be sorely missed.

And Nolasco? Is he any good? I have no idea.

At the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Twins trade Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer to Angels for Hector Santiago."

And the O.C. Register's Jeff Fletcher has some quick analysis on Twitter. The Angels look like they just wanted to do something before the trade deadline.

Santiago and busenitz to twins. Nolasco and Meyer reportedly back.

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 1, 2016

On the Twins deal, Angels basically exchanged one back end starter for another back end starter, plus a 0-3 upside starter. Simple.

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 1, 2016

Also, Nolasco has an option, so possibly one more year of control than Santiago.

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 1, 2016

Confirmed Angels are getting cash from the Twins to cover the difference between Santiago and Nolasco's salaries, so no luxury tax hit in 16

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 1, 2016

If Angels had traded for Santiago for prospects only, they'd need to go get a "Nolasco type" on FA market just to fill rotation

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 1, 2016