Renée Zellweger Talks About Her Hollywood Comeback in 'Bridget Jones's Baby'

I've been thinking about this. She supposedly had all that horrible plastic surgery, but she looks pretty good from what I can tell, in all the ads for the movie.

I'm glad, because I like the lady.

At London's Daily Mail, "Renée Zellweger opens up about her Hollywood comeback in Bridget Jones’s Baby."

Teri Nichols, LAUSD Teacher's Assistant, Accused of Smuggling Cell Phones, Heroin to Death Row Inmate (VIDEO)

She's black.

Teri Nichols, the accused TA, is black.

This is exactly the kind of assistive behavior among girlfriends and baby moms depicted in Alice Goffman's riveting book, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City.

Watch, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "LAUSD Teacher's Assistant Accused of Smuggling Cell Phones, Heroin to Death Row Inmate."

Also at the LAist, "LAUSD Teacher Allegedly Smuggled Heroin to San Quentin Death Row Inmate."

Trump's 'Narrow Path' to Victory, at USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times 'Daybreak' Poll

Following-up from earlier, "Donald Trump Ahead by Three Points at USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times 'Daybreak' Poll."

At LAT, "Donald Trump still has a path to victory, but it's a tough one, USC/L.A. Times poll shows":

Although he trails in nearly all national surveys and polls of most battleground states, Donald Trump still has a potential route to victory, albeit a difficult one that would require him to coax many people who sat out the last election to vote this time around, the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Daybreak tracking poll finds.

The existence of a bloc of disaffected voters large enough to potentially swing the election Trump’s way is the main finding from an analysis of the first eight weeks of the daily tracking poll.

Whether Trump can convert a significant number of those potential supporters into voters over the final two months of the presidential campaign could determine whether the election ends up as a close contest or a runaway for Hillary Clinton.

That group of potential voters also helps explain why the Daybreak poll’s results have consistently been more favorable to Trump than other major surveys.

The key group driving that result are people who sat out the 2012 election but say they plan to vote this year. Trump, who’s due to give a major speech on immigration Wednesday, leads among them in the poll. He trails Clinton among those who voted four years ago or were too young to do so.

The design of the Daybreak poll means it reflects, more strongly than some other surveys, the views of those who didn’t vote before but say they will this year. As a result, the poll presents something of a best-case scenario for Trump — one in which he succeeds in getting large numbers of previous nonvoters to cast ballots for him.

Even that best case is a problematic one for the Republican nominee since he seldom does better than a tie in the poll’s results. For the last two weeks, even as most polls have shown Clinton with a significant edge over Trump, the Daybreak poll has shown the two candidates roughly even, trading narrow leads back and forth. The poll also shows that a large percentage of voters remain uncertain about their choice.

As of Tuesday morning, the poll showed Trump ahead 45%-42%, well within the margin of error.

Trump’s situation is even more challenging because of the difficulty of turning nonvoters into voters, a task for which Trump’s campaign may be especially ill-suited...

Keep reading.

The Irvine PTA Mom's Enemies

Following-up from the other day, "Irvine PTA Mom Busted With Ziploc Bag of Marijuana, Two EZY Dose Pill-Pouch Baggies, One With 11 Percocet Pills, Another With 29 Vicodin."

And from yesterday's Los Angeles Times front page, "The Power Couple."

Mardoqueo Sincal Jochola Killed in Vicious Black Thug 'Knockout Game' Attack in Philadelphia (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Donald Trump Has Exposed the Hypocrisy of the Black Lives Matter Movement."

Trump should speak out against the brutal black thug violence against Hispanic immigrants. Oh boy, talk about putting leftist Democrats on defense.

At London's Daily Mail, "Latino immigrant dies after being sucker punched during 'knockout game' in Philadelphia."

And watch, at CBS News 3 Philadelphia:

Donald Trump Ahead by Three Points at USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times 'Daybreak' Poll

Well, last night I said the race was a dead heat.

Actually, tonight he's got a three-point lead, 45.1/42.3 percent.

At the USC Dornsife page.

Also, at LAT, "Where the presidential race stands today."

More at Breitbart, "LA Times Tracking Poll: Trump Captures Six Point Swing, Leads Clinton by Three."

Donald Trump to Visit Mexico to Meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto

This is great.

Trump continues to upend the news cycle.

And if it's a productive meeting, he could damage Hillary Clinton's momentum in the Hispanic community.

He's unpredictable and totally fearless. I like it.

At LAT, "Donald Trump headed to Mexico for meeting with Enrique Peña Nieto."

More at Memeorandum.

Trump will be making another "major address" tomorrow, on immigration.

It's highly anticipated. And it's going to be an interesting news day.

Donald Trump Has Exposed the Hypocrisy of the Black Lives Matter Movement

Donald Trump name-checked Heather Mac Donald a little while ago, while speaking in Everett, Washington.

He was giving a significant address on the crisis of the inner-cities. I like what I'm hearing. A lot.

In any case, here's Mac Donald's essay at WSJ, "Black Lives Matter to Donald Trump":

.@HMDatMI: Black Lives Matter to Donald Trump https://t.co/et4zT4PddM via #HeatherMacDonald

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 30, 2016

Hillary Clinton tried to tar Donald Trump as a racist last week by associating him with the “alt-right.” Yet it is Mr. Trump who has decried the loss of black life to violent crime—and has promptly been declared biased for doing so. Whether intentionally or not, Mr. Trump has exposed the hypocrisy of the Black Lives Matter movement and its allies.

Speaking in West Bend, Wis., on Aug. 16, only days after the recent riots in Milwaukee, Mr. Trump observed that during “the last 72 hours . . . another nine were killed in Chicago and another 46 were wounded.” The victims, as in other cities with rising crime, were overwhelmingly black.

Bringing safety to inner-city residents should be a top presidential priority, Mr. Trump said: “Our job is to make life more comfortable for the African-American parent who wants their kids to be able to safely walk the streets and walk to school. Or the senior citizen waiting for a bus. Or the young child walking home from school.” Mr. Trump promised to restore law and order “for the sake of all, but most especially for the sake of those living in the affected communities.”

The reaction was swift. The progressive website Crooks and Liars deemed Mr. Trump’s speech a “mashup of Hitler and George Wallace.” On CNN the activist and former Obama adviser Van Jones called it “despicable” and “shocking in its divisiveness.” Historian Josh Zeitz told USA Today that “the term law and order in modern American politics is, ipso facto, a racially tinged term.”

Mr. Trump’s acceptance speech in July at the Republican National Convention provoked similar dismay. “Young Americans in Baltimore, in Chicago, in Detroit, in Ferguson,” he said, have “the same right to live out their dreams as any other child in America.”

This defense of black children was too much for Alicia Garza, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement. “The terrifying vision that Donald J. Trump is putting forward casts him alongside some of the worst fascists in history,” Ms. Garza said. The executive director of the Advancement Project, Judith Browne Dianis, complained that “the speech lends itself to be interpreted as isolating and scapegoating of communities of color.” Political commentator Sally Kohn wrote in Time that Mr. Trump “has basically recycled Richard Nixon’s version of dog whistle racism by insisting he is the ‘law and order candidate’—implicitly protecting White America.”

Why this frenzied effort to demonize Mr. Trump for addressing the heightened violence in inner cities? Because the Republican nominee has also correctly identified its cause: the false “narrative of cops as a racist force in our society,” as he put it in Wisconsin...

RTWT.

Mac Donald's book is here, The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe.

Nima Sanandaji, Debunking Utopia

What a timely book.

Bernie Sanders supporters said they were looking at "Scandinavia," thinking "that's where we [America] ought to be going..."

But see Nima Sanandaji's new book, Debunking Utopia: Exposing the Myth of Nordic Socialism.

Conservatives on Campus Should Keep Their Cool

Here's Professor Matthew Woessner, for Prager University:

Lauren Southern's Urgent Message for Young Women (VIDEO)

Via Rebel Media:

Huma Abedin Might Be Liability for Hillary Clinton

Following-up from yesterday, "Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin to Separate."

At the Los Angeles Times, "Huma Abedin is Hillary Clinton's closest aide, and now she might be a liability":

Before any of former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner’s creepy sexting even came to light, his wife had attracted unwanted attention for her boss, Hillary Clinton.

Huma Abedin is a favorite target of Republicans. They accuse her of being a Saudi spy, a self-dealing insider, the mastermind behind a plot to hide Clinton’s email.

But the noise around Abedin was so often distorted by conspiracy theories that the public seemed to tune it out — until Weiner suddenly appeared back in the spotlight with the revelation of his most disturbing Twitter message yet: an illicit photo in which his son was a prop, sent privately to another woman. Abedin announced Monday that she and Weiner would separate.

Now, Clinton’s campaign finds itself unable to duck unwanted attention drawn to Abedin, a 40-year-old aide closer to Clinton than anyone else on her payroll...

Good.

Maybe Ms. Huma will get the full public vetting she so richly deserves, especially her ties to Islamic jihad.

Keep reading.

Is Monmouth University Poll an Outlier?

Monnouth's poll is here.

And the discussion at Politico, "Poll: Clinton leads Trump by 7 points."

At one point Monmouth had Clinton up by 12 points, and she's still up more than half that in this latest survey. Are they consistently oversampling Democrats? Is the poll a fraudulent outlier?

Check Hot Air for a nice analysis, "And now a new national poll shows the race tightening."

I think the race is tighter. Indeed, I think it's a dead heat national horse race at the moment, and lots of good solid polling organizations are generating those numbers. See from Sunday, "Latest Morning Consult Poll Has Hillary Clinton Up 43 to 40 Percent Over Donald Trump."

Yesterday the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times 'Daybreak' poll had Trump up over Clinton 44.0/43.6. It's a dead heat.

And even the latest UPI presidential tracker has Clinton up by just 3 points, "UPI/CVoter poll: Hillary Clinton regains lead over Donald Trump."

Of course, I remember what happened in 2012, and most of these polls may well be perfectly accurate. We'll see. As I always say. We'll see.

Joe Hicks, 1941 - 2016

I just saw him on Fox News last week. He looked perfectly fine.

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "ROGER SIMON: RIP JOE HICKS—GREAT MAN OF HIS TIMES."

I was interviewed by Joe Hicks, along with Bill Whittle, on PJTV right before the 2008 election. I'd just published, "Obama's Fundraising Fraud."

I really admired him. R.I.P.

Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin to Separate

I read this earlier today, at the New York Times, "Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin to Separate After His Latest Sexting Scandal."


Also at Memeorandum.

Carlos Danger's getting kicked to the curb.

And see Twitchy, "Bad omen? You bet! No wonder Anthony Weiner and Huma couldn’t make it work."

Previously Anthony Weiner blogging is here.

'Blood in the Water'

This looks really cool, from Heather Ann Thompson, at Amazon, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy."

And see the story at the New York Times, "‘Blood in the Water,’ a Gripping Account of the Attica Prison Uprising."

Making Freshmen Read Ta-Nehisi Coates Is a Mistake

This is interesting, especially because I almost assigned Coates this semester myself. I planned to use Coates' piece from the Atlantic, "The Case for Reparations," but it's way too freakin' long.

I'm not so worried about the far-left agenda, since I'd have something to criticize in classroom discussions, in any case. But see Robert Cherry, at the New York Post, for more.

PREVIOUSLY: "The Sad and Worn-Out Shakedown Shtick of Ta-Nehisi Coates."

And here's his book, if you're interested, Between the World and Me. (I picked up a copy. It's know your enemies with me, remember. I just read everything.)

New Influx of White Retirees Bolsters Trump in Florida

This is interesting.

I've never discounted Trump's chances in Florida, mainly because he's had such a big business presence there. Plus, Florida elects GOP governors all the time. Why count out Trump?

Well, it turns out, there's also a new and large white retiree community that might bolster that Manhattan mogul.

This is cool.

At WSJ, "White Retiree Influx Helps Keep Florida in Play for Donald Trump":

THE VILLAGES, Fla.—Fast-growing minority communities give Democrats an increasing advantage in Florida, one of the most heated battlegrounds in the presidential election. A different and little-noted demographic trend is helping to keep the state competitive for Donald Trump : a new influx of white retirees, such as Art Donnelly.

Mr. Donnelly and his wife moved last year from Long Island, N.Y., to a retirement community here, where he has attended tea-party gatherings and Republican club meetings. He said he plans to get more involved in helping to elect Mr. Trump, the GOP nominee.

“Politicians in general are too focused on how they can help themselves and their inner circles,” said 67-year-old Mr. Donnelly, a former consultant in the intelligence community. “I don’t think Trump is going to be so easily controlled by the power brokers.”

Florida, the largest swing state, is being keenly targeted by the presidential campaigns. While Democrat Hillary Clinton can lose the state and find other paths to victory, it is seen as a must-win for Mr. Trump. Both candidates have been stumping there regularly.

New arrivals like Mr. Donnelly help explain why the Florida race remains tight in polls. The most recent, a Mason-Dixon survey released Friday, showed Mr. Trump trailing Mrs. Clinton by only two points among likely voters, a slim margin helped in part by his lead of over 20 points among white seniors.

President Barack Obama won Florida by less than a percentage point in 2012 amid a poor showing among white voters. Since then, the terrain has turned more favorable to Democrats. The share of eligible voters who are non-Hispanic white has fallen from 67% in 2012 to a projected 64% this year, according to the nonpartisan States of Change demography project.

That is due to more Hispanic and minority voters, as well as to a big influx of residents from economically troubled Puerto Rico, who are eligible to vote and tend to back Democrats. Some 96,000 Hispanics arrived in Florida from abroad in 2014, including many from Puerto Rico.

That trend is partly offset by another set of new residents—white retirees, many from GOP-leaning areas of the country. Though Florida has long been a destination for white retirees, they have arrived in larger numbers in recent years as a stronger economy and rising property values made it easier to move, economists and local officials say.

“People around the country in depressed areas were able to sell homes and come down,’’ said Don Hahnfeldt, a resident of The Villages community who is running unopposed for a state House seat.

A net 7,800 white, non-Hispanic residents left Florida in the recession year of 2008, but whites streamed back as the economy picked up, topping a net 94,000 arrivals in 2014.

“The interplay between the share of the white vote and the share of the Hispanic vote will keep the state relatively competitive for a while,” said Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who managed Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign in Florida.

These trends are on display in two neighboring areas of central Florida: The Villages and Orlando. The Villages—an expanse of residential tracts interspersed with golf courses, country clubs and town centers with architectural themes, such as an old cattle town—is the fastest-growing metro area in the U.S. Its county, Sumter, is the only one in the country where the majority of the population is seniors.

The Villages has a high rate of new arrivals, 87% of whom were white in 2014, census data show. Between 2009 and 2013, the biggest source of new residents from beyond Florida was rural places outside metro areas nationwide, which tend to be more conservative. By voter registration, Sumter County is 53% Republican and 26% Democratic...

Keep reading.

60 Percent of Teens Have Created Online Accounts That Their Parents Don't Know About (VIDEO)

Well, my oldest son had all kinds of social media accounts, and I'm sure a couple I didn't know about.

Too late now. He'll be 21 in January, lol.

My youngest son just turned 15 and started high school last week. He doesn't use social media. He doesn't even have a Facebook account. We'll see how long that lasts. I'm glad, though.

In any case, watch, at CBS This Morning, from the other day, "A new survey of teenagers and parents finds that 60 percent of teen internet users have created online accounts that their folks don't know about. That's more than twice the percentage of parents who suspect their teens have secret accounts. Wired magazine contributor Mary H.K. Choi joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss her latest article, "Like. Ghost. Flirt," and how she met with five teens across the country to learn how high schoolers actually use social media."

Here's the piece, at Wired, "Like. Flirt. Ghost: A Journey Into the Social Media Lives of Teens."

Irvine PTA Mom Busted With Ziploc Bag of Marijuana, Two EZY Dose Pill-Pouch Baggies, One With 11 Percocet Pills, Another With 29 Vicodin

And she says she was framed.

Right, heh.

From the front-page at yesterday's LAT, "FRAMED: SHE WAS THE PTA MOM EVERYONE KNEW. WHO WOULD WANT TO HARM HER?"

Oh boy, what a drama.

It's in six parts too.

More later.