ICYMI: Shelby Steele, Shame

This is a great read.

ICYMI, at Amazon, Shelby Steele, Shame: How America’s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country.

Shop Digital Deals [BUMPED]

Lots of good stuff, at Amazon, Digital Deals of the Day.

BONUS: Kim Zetter, Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon.

Donald Trump's Cabinet Picks Are Among the Most Conservative in History

Following-up from a little while ago, "Trump to Make Energy Policy Major Theme of Administration."

Like I said, I'm pleased as punch.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Trump's Cabinet picks are among the most conservative in history. What that means for his campaign promises":

Donald Trump promotes himself as a man divorced from party ideology, a president-elect just as open-minded to input from Al Gore as from Newt Gingrich.

But with his Cabinet nearly complete, he has chosen one of the most consistently conservative domestic policy teams in modern history, setting himself up for hard decisions and potential conflict with some of his supporters when he begins to govern.

The internal conflicts have emerged with nearly every pick.

Trump campaigned against the big banks, then chose a former Goldman Sachs partner, Steven Mnuchin, to run his Treasury Department. He pledged to save Medicare and Social Security, then chose Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), who has advocated sweeping revisions in Medicare and Medicaid, to run Health and Human Services.

Trump has placed the burdens of working people at the top of his agenda, yet chose as Labor secretary an executive, Andrew Puzder, who talked in an interview about the advantages of replacing human workers with machines because they are “always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there's never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.”

And even as Trump aides put out word that the president-elect’s daughter Ivanka would be an influential administration voice in favor of curbing global warming, Trump named a man who has repeatedly expressed skepticism about the scientific consensus on climate change, Oklahoma Atty. Gen. Scott Pruitt, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

“This is a big mystery to a lot of people, and it’s going to be one of the hardest things about this presidency,” said Elaine Kamarck, a former advisor in the Clinton administration now at the Brookings Institution in Washington, who has written extensively about the inner workings of White Houses.

Trump has so far shown a deftness at drawing attention away from sticky policy debates with bold, attention-grabbing strokes, a tactic that may help him deflect controversies when he moves to the Oval Office. On Monday, he announced he was delaying until next month a news conference at which he had promised to address his business conflicts of interest, then on Tuesday morning, he staged a photo opportunity at Trump Tower with entertainer Kanye West.

He defied some ideologues in his party, and won goodwill from many supporters, by dramatically persuading Carrier Corp. to keep some of the air conditioning company’s manufacturing jobs in Indiana rather than ship them to Mexico.

Despite criticism over singling out an individual company with tax incentives and implicit threats to its government contracting business, Trump was able to use the publicity over the deal to promote a message that workers, particularly those in manufacturing, were at the top of his agenda.

“We are going to see a lot of symbolic politics,” said Lara Brown, a professor of political management at George Washington University. She expects gestures like the Carrier deal to prove effective for some time.

Trump’s supporters, Brown said, are more invested in shaking up the system than a particular policy agenda.

But the splashy moves could wear thin if Trump fails to deliver on signature promises, like a jobs boom...

It's all going to be fine.

I'm sure of it.

But keep reading, in any case.

Fire Destroys Amazon Prime Delivery Truck on Interstate-15 in Scripps Ranch (VIDEO)

At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Big-rig charred in fire on I-15."

The truck was empty at the time of the fire.

Imagine a truck-full of Amazon Prime products up in smoke!

Taylor Hill LOVE Advent 2016 (VIDEO)

The lovely Taylor Hill for today's entry in the LOVE series.



And there's a second video, "Day 14 - Taylor Hill by Hype Williams (LOVE Advent 2016)."

Trump to Make Energy Policy Major Theme of Administration

I'm pleased as punch with Trump's nominations.

It's absolutely thrilling. I mean, jeez, it's like a policy revolution in the works, about to completely destroy the radical left's anti-everything regulatory regime.

I can't wait to get cracking!

At IBD, "Can Trump's Energy-Savvy Cabinet 'Make American Energy Great Again'?":

With a spate of major Cabinet picks, President-elect Donald Trump has made one thing abundantly clear: He intends to make reform of U.S. energy policy a major theme of his administration.

On Tuesday word leaked out that Trump would choose former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as his new Energy Secretary.

Perry, whose economic success as Texas governor speaks for itself, is a terrific pick who'll need very little on-the-job training about what plentiful energy means to real people in the real economy — especially when compared to President Obama's energy secretaries, the UC Berkeley physicist Stephen Chu, who focused largely on global warming and pushing the idea of a "global glucose economy" based on energy from tropical plants, and physicist Ernest Moniz, who spent most of his time on helping push the disastrous Iran nuclear deal.

Even so, the media had a field day with the Perry pick. Why? In a 2011 presidential debate, he vowed to get rid of three government agencies if elected. One was Commerce, one was Education, and the third ... he couldn't remember. Oops! It was Energy.

Yes, ironic and good for a laugh. But also irrelevant. Because Perry, as the top executive in the nation's No. 1 energy state, knows the energy industry and energy regulation backward and forward. And just because he would eliminate the Energy Department — for the record, so would we, because it's utterly useless — he will be a wise and steady leader when it comes to deregulating the overly regulated energy industry.

Our hope is that he will free up federal land for more energy exploration and drilling, but also find ways to ease burdens on energy users and producers. We would, for instance, like to see the anti-business, anti-industry, anti-consumer, anti-energy Clean Power Plan done away with entirely. If he does all that, the energy and fracking revolutions will continue — bringing decades if not centuries of relatively cheap energy to fuel U.S. growth.

But Trump's energy Cabinet isn't just about Perry...

Keep reading.

Desperate Democrats Seeking to Deny Donald Trump the Oval Office (VIDEO)

Here's an excellent piece on the Electoral College, and why Democrats are so hopelessly out of touch with reality.

It's sad actually.

At Reason, "Why 'Hamilton Electors,' Who Would Make Hillary Clinton President, Are as Dead as Their Namesake":

Donald Trump's surprise election has made the Electoral College a thing again. Sad Democrats and progressives, still looking for anyone and anything to blame besides their feckless candidate and the inept, celebrity-obsessed campaign she ran, are repeating their stages of grief from 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the White House to George W. Bush. In both cases, the Dems could fixate on the Electoral College, that awful holdover from the country's slave-owning past. But despite high-profile attempts to bend the rules before the Electoral College votes on December 19, there's no way in hell that Trump is not going to be the next president. Whatever you think of either him or Clinton, that's not a bad thing. It's the way the rules are supposed to work, and for good reasons.

"Mr. Trump is unfit to serve," reads an online petition to "make Hillary Clinton president." "His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault, and utter lack of experience make him a danger to the Republic," runs the argument, which has nearly 5 million signatures and implores "conscientious electors" to vote for Clinton regardless of how the people they represent voted.

Alas for them, a presidential election is really 51 elections (all the states, plus Washington, D.C.), in the same way the World Series consists of up to seven individual baseball contests, rather than a competition determined by which team scores the most total runs. The Electoral College, which guarantees at least three representatives to each state, affects how people vote on a state-by-state basis and voting strategies, like campaign strategies, would surely be different in a system driven purely by popular-vote totals...

Keep reading.

Video Hat Tip: Breitbart, "Sore Loser Celebrities Beg Electors to Vote Against Trump (Video)."

Treasured Toys

Don't forget the little tykes for Christmas.

At Amazon, Holiday Treasures in Toys.

Plus, Amazon Devices - Kindle for Kids Bundle 16.

And, HP 61 Black & Tri-color Original Ink Cartridges, 2 pack (CR259FN).

More, AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable - 6 Feet (Latest Standard).

Check out, GoPro HERO4 Silver.

And, KIND Breakfast Bars.

Still more, Lasko 754200 Ceramic Heater with Adjustable Thermostat.

BONUS: Sean Trende, The Lost Majority: Why the Future of Government Is Up for Grabs - and Who Will Take It.

And, from James E. Campbell, Polarized: Making Sense of a Divided America.

'You Got Lucky'

From Monday morning's drive time, at the Sound L.A.:

Shock the Monkey
Peter Gabriel
10:28 AM

Somebody's Baby
Jackson Browne
10:24 AM

Bad to the Bone (Live)
George Thorogood
10:19 AM

Hot In the City
Billy Idol
10:15 AM

YOU GOT LUCKY
TOM PETTY
10:12 AM

Caught Up in You
38 Special
10:08 AM

Jack & Diane
John Mellencamp
10:04 AM

Blinded By the Light
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
9:55 AM

New Year's Day
U2
9:50 AM

Dead Man's Party
Oingo Boingo
9:37 AM

Stairway to Heaven
Led Zeppelin
9:29 AM

Don't Bring Me Down
Electric Light Orchestra
9:25 AM

Runnin' With the Devil
Van Halen
9:21 AM

Magic Man
Heart
9:16 AM

Rock the Casbah
The Clash
9:12 AM

No Proof Russia's Behind the Alleged Election Hacks

Look, I've been saying all along the allegations are hearsay. I personally haven't seen a shred of evidence to implicate Russia --- or the Russian government --- in the 2016 election hacks.

It's too bad the media's gone all in on this scam, especially the New York Times (of which I'll have more later).

At any rate, here's Sam Biddle, at the Intercept, "HERE’S THE PUBLIC EVIDENCE RUSSIA HACKED THE DNC – IT’S NOT ENOUGH."

It's good.

No one has actually proven Russia's behind the hacks: https://t.co/P6XPDJ0KWc

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 14, 2016

'Dunkirk' Trailer (VIDEO)

This is going to be great!

The film's in theaters July 21, 2017.

I can't wait!

Olga Perez Stable Cox, Orange Coast College Professor, Flees the State After Death Threats (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Olga Perez Stable Cox, Orange Coast College Psychology Professor, Attacks Donald Trump's Election as an 'Act of Terrorism' (VIDEO)."

Who cares about this lady?

I certainly don't. She made her bed, that's for sure.

You go off on a rant like that and not think you're going to be videotaped? She's an idiot.

At the Orange County Register, "OCC professor received threats, left the state after video of her anti-Trump comments":

On Monday, hundreds of students and faculty members who support Cox gathered for a noon rally on campus. Carrying homemade signs calling for free speech, they defended the teacher they described as someone dedicated to protecting all students, including those who are LGBT and students of color.

“She has been here 30 years and impacted over 30,000 lives,” said student Elias Altamirano, 20, one of those who organized the rally. “I want to let Olga know this is her home and she doesn’t have to feel threatened.”

A smaller group – with students from the College Republicans, which made the video public – also was on hand. They set up a computer to continuously play Cox’s recording, in which she referred to white supremacy and called the vice president-elect “one of the most anti-gay humans in this country.”

Those students countered that the issue is not about academic freedom but points to an instance of a college instructor pushing her own political agenda, something they say is prevalent on college campuses nationwide.

“This has nothing to do with free speech. It’s a professor overstepping her profession,” said Vincent Wetzel, who said he is a gay student who has attended some of Cox’s LGBT panels. “Of all the people who are supposed to provide an inclusive environment, it’s her. Now, I don’t feel comfortable.”

Two students in Cox’s class said she asked those who had voted for Trump to identify themselves.

“She tried to get everyone who voted for Donald Trump to stand up and show the rest of the class who to watch out for and protect yourself from,” said Tanner Webb, 21, of Huntington Beach.

Webb, who describes himself as apolitical, said he chose to speak up after reading comments in the Register from Schneiderman, the faculty union president, defending Cox. Schneiderman had said that Cox is “known for her open and engaging ways in class” but that the student who videotaped her chose to not engage in a discussion.

“Professor Cox’s anti-Trump rant was no open debate to engage students,” said Webb, who added that he has enjoyed the class and described Cox as “a good teacher.”

Noah Faerber, 19, another student in Cox’s class, confirmed Webb’s account.

Schneiderman offered a different version of what happened: Cox told the class some people would be happy with the election results, and a student stood up in approval. She then invited others to stand up and show their support if they wished, he said.

Shawn Steel, the Republican national committeeman from California and an attorney who is representing Orange Coast College Republicans, brought the matter to the administration’s attention Nov. 23, a week before the group went public with the video.

At that time, Steel wanted Cox, a tenured professor, to apologize. Now, with students saying she tried to separate and shame Trump supporters, Steel said school officials should consider firing her.

“That’s a deal-breaker for me,” he said.

School administrators said they are investigating Steel’s complaint and also whether the student who taped the teacher should face sanctions for recording her without permission.

Since the initial video surfaced and made national news, a second video clip has been posted online from the same class, with Cox expressing more of her political views and vowing to keep her students safe from any acts of racism and prejudice...

Plus, more video at Fox News, "Student under fire for recording professor's anti-Trump rant," and "Student faces backlash for recording anti-Trump lecture."

BONUS: From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "PROF WHO CALLED TRUMP WIN AN ‘ACT OF TERRORISM’ ALLEGEDLY ASKED TRUMP BACKERS TO STAND DURING CLASS."

Merkel and Whose Army?

From Hans Kundnani, at Foreign Policy, "A German military that practices with broomsticks isn't in a position to become the new “leader of the free world”":

Angela Merkel isn't in a position to become the "leader of the free world," argues @hanskundnani https://t.co/gKwipFj0Dy pic.twitter.com/i1s1q4Nx1f

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) December 14, 2016

In Germany, Angela Merkel is known as “mommy” — and judging from the desperate global reactions to the election as U.S. president of Donald Trump, it won’t be long before the rest of the world starts calling her that, too. With Trump having indicated an intention to abdicate America’s role as “leader of the free world,” a chorus of commentators have pointed to Germany under Merkel’s leadership as the most obvious replacement.

However, as Merkel herself has been quick to acknowledge — including on Nov. 20 when she announced she would run for a fourth term as chancellor — the idea is absurd. First, German power has always been regional, not global, which means it has little to offer vulnerable Western allies in Asia; Germany could therefore at most replace the United States as the “leader of a free Europe.”

But even that notion is a fantasy. If the leadership in question were purely a question of moral symbolism, Germany might qualify for it — though even that is questionable. But it also describes a set of concrete military responsibilities, stretching back to the Cold War, to defend the security of other democracies. These are responsibilities that Germany — which has only minimal military power and deep-seated reluctance, both political and cultural, to deploy what power it has — is singularly unable to fulfill.

Carol Giacomo of the New York Times suggested shortly after the U.S. election that Germany “replace America in leading NATO.” But any country either obliged or inclined — as Germany was, during a 2014 NATO exercise — to have its soldiers paint wooden sticks black and attach them to armored vehicles in lieu of heavy machine guns is not in a position to claim military leadership.

A simple comparison of the military budgets of Germany and the United States serves to illustrate the problem. In 2015, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the U.S. defense budget was $597.5 billion. Germany’s was $36.7 billion — about one-twentieth the size of America’s. Germany’s military budget is small even in comparison to that of France ($46.8 billion) and the United Kingdom ($56.2 billion), which are also, like the United Sates and unlike Germany, nuclear powers. In that sense, despite the political challenges they currently face, the heads of the French and British governments have a greater claim to be the “leader of the free world” than the chancellor of Germany.

Germany’s level of defense spending looks even more inadequate when one considers it in relation to the size of the German economy. NATO members collectively commit to spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, but only four members apart from the United States (Greece, Estonia, Poland, and the United Kingdom) actually do so. For years, Germany had spent 1.3 percent — at the lower end of the scale of NATO members. But it has fallen further in the last couple of years and is now under 1.2 percent. This year, Merkel finally committed eventually to reach the 2 percent target — after the election of Trump, she has simply restated this position — but has not specified when she will do so. Berlin’s only hard commitment is an 8 percent uptick in defense spending in 2017, which will bring it to 1.22 percent of GDP.

A similar picture emerges when one goes beyond the figures on defense spending and considers capabilities...

Keep reading.

It's a good piece. I'm cutting Foreign Policy a little slack on this one.

Freddie deBoer Slams the Condescending, Certain, and Incoherent Left

He's a great writer.

He's far left, but usually honest about his ideological tendencies. At least as far as I can remember. The main strike against him is he used to blog with E.D. Kain at the League of Ordinary Gentlemen, a stupid blog that's still in operation, it turns out.

In any case, here's Freddie, "condescending, certain, and incoherent":

I’ve been asking my friends on the academic left what rights conservative students have, in an era of a university culture obsessed with trauma. Two things are broadly true: one, they think that it’s ridiculous to suggest that there’s any reason to worry about what conservative students can and can’t say – there’s no questions here, no conflicts, nothing even to discuss. Two, despite the mutuality of this dismissal, no two of them have the same idea about what answers are stunningly obvious, only that they are. I am told that of course students can support Trump and say so, but that “Make America Great Again” is hate speech, despite simply being the slogan of the campaign that they just said students have the right to support. They say that it’s not permissible for students to identify with the alt-right, which is a hate group, but it’s fine for them to be plain-vanilla conservatives, despite the fact that the latter group has indisputably done vastly more to harm marginalized people than the former.

What are the rules? I don’t know, and I’m ensconced firmly in these debates. I harp on civil liberties and free speech a lot because, yes, I think they’re worth defending and that the traditional association between leftist politics and support for them was substantively correct on political theory grounds. But also because they’re a perfect example of the holes in current left theory. When does someone’s trauma outweigh the right of another to speak? Who can say what, in which contexts, when? I have no idea what people think the answers are. I just know that they think the question is so obvious as to not be worth asking. It’s an inverse argument from incredulity, not “I can’t believe you could possibly think that” but “I can’t believe you don’t already.”

As they say, RTWT.

Richard Spencer Interviewed on the PBS 'News Hour' (VIDEO)

I don't like Richard Spencer.

And I don't care for the "alt right."

But he'd be a nobody if the idiot leftist press wouldn't be giving him so much media coverage.

Sheesh.

@JudyWoodruff I don't think he'd be such a "major figure" if he wasn't getting so much MSM airtime, frankly.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 14, 2016

The Leading Global Thinkers of 2016

I just can't read Foreign Policy any more. Well, once in a while I'll wade through some of their stuff, if it's from somebody I trust and appreciate (like Edward Luttwak, from a few weeks back).

But otherwise, the magazine's gotten rather disgraceful.

.@BlazingCatFur I'm sure you can have some fun with this: FP's "Global Thinkers": JUSTIN TRUDEAU https://t.co/UOA7QSO6i1

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 12, 2016

@AmPowerBlog Oh brother!

— Blazing CatFur (@Blazingcatfur) December 12, 2016

The Truth About the Shutdown of the Dakota Pipeline

This is great!

From Naomi Schaefer Riley, at Commentary, "Bury Their Future at Standing Rock."

There's no great pullout quote. Just read it at the link:

From the January 2017 issue: Bury Their Future at Standing Rock - by @NaomiSRiley https://t.co/LEY9LfFZss pic.twitter.com/YAaeH4hCMO

— Commentary Magazine (@Commentary) December 15, 2016

Top Gift Ideas [BUMPED]

At Amazon, Our Most Popular Products Ordered as Gifts.

Plus, Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers. Books, DVDs, and More.

Also, Holiday Deals.

And, Holiday Gift Cards.

More, Handmade Stocking Stuffers.

Even more, Amazon Tablet Christmas 2016.

And, Shop Carhartt Jackets.

Still more, Snow Removal Products.

BONUS: Donald Stratton, All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor.

Jackie Johnson's Winter Weather Forecast

Well, she's says it's going to get cold.

Here's Ms. Jackie, in a fabulous purple dress, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Sara Sampaio LOVE Advent 2016 (VIDEO)

Sara Sampaio grows on you after a while, heh.

The latest in the LOVE series, at least for American Power.