Bo Krsmanovic Uncovered for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2017 (VIDEO)

She's incredible!

So Laura Ingraham's Not Thrilled With Trump's Syria Attack?

Apparently not, if this tweet is any indication. Indeed, I saw some buzz about how she was one of the "alt-right" commentators opposing the strike.

I love Ms. Laura, but on this point I suspect she's off.

Hope @realDonaldTrump reads this buried in @nytimes. pic.twitter.com/bXi2QIVnNV

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) April 9, 2017

Syrian Chemical Attack Survivor Hits Out at @CNN's Brooke Baldwin (VIDEO)

Boy, you think Ms. Brooke's tryna make Trump look bad, tryna delegitimize his administration?

This dude Kassem Eid ain't buying it. He's awesome!

At Daily Mail and CNN:



America, the indispensable nation.

Leftists hate that, lol.

'Tomahawk Missiles' Are Offensive to Native Americans?

I've been adding a #Tomahawk hashtag to all my Syria tweets, mostly because I think that's the coolest named ever for the long-range land-attack missiles. Plus, I know that progressives hate the idea of "appropriating" American Indian names for use in military armaments.

And what do you know? The obligatory leftist political correctness.

At Heat Street, "Prominent Editor Mocked for Saying ‘Tomahawk Missiles’ Are Offensive to Native Americans."

It's Clara Jefferey, Editor in Chief at Mother Jones, who's a bloody idiot.

That the missiles are callled tomahawks must enrage a lot of Native Americans

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) April 8, 2017

Jerry Brown Wins $52 Billion Gasoline Tax in California (VIDEO)

Jerry Brown is the lamest of lame ducks. He's finishing his fourth term as Governor of California, cementing his legacy of clusterfuck moonbeam progressivism.

At the Los Angeles Times, "California Legislature votes to raise gas taxes, vehicle fees by $5.2 billion a year for road repairs and transit."

Video via KCRA News 3 Sacramento.

I've got another 10 to 15 years or so at the college, then retirement. A lifelong Californian, I'm constantly wondering which state would be best to relocate? Nevada? Texas? Idaho or Montana? Seriously. I want to get out to more of the classic West, and especially to a low-tax state that's big on gun rights.

More at WND, "FLEEING INSANITY -- THAT IS, LIBERALISM: Exclusive: Patrice Lewis cites increasing exodus of people from California, Chicago, NYC:

In 1972, when I was 10 years old, my father’s job was transferred from Buffalo, New York, to California. After endless cold Buffalo winters, the golden state seemed like a golden place, a land of golden opportunity. My parents built a house, my father built a successful career, and my brothers and I thrived.

That was then, this is now. California is going off the deep end. The gold has turned to brass. It has become the land of fruits and nuts, a caricature of its former glory, a place people seek to leave in droves before they run afoul of the latest insanity.

Consider just a few examples of recent lunacy:

* Public university to host talk on animal-based sex fetishes
* Claim: Trump ‘threatens mental health of young Californians’
* They’ll have a ‘gay’ old time: ‘Bordellos’ now in nursing homes?
* California just passed a law regulating cow farts
* New bill would criminalize pronoun usage in nursing homes
* California bans students from traveling to ‘anti-LGBT’ states

Perhaps unsurprisingly, middle class Californians are leaving the state in droves. Take a look at these words from a frustrated inhabitant:

Came to SoCal as a kid in 1969 … got married and had kids who now are in college (out of state). I worked my *** off to get where I am today, but my house goes on the market this spring. I’ve watched this state sink into the abyss of liberal insanity inch by inch, drop by drop.

There is no hope for the state of Kalifornia. The Dems and their insane view of this world have a super majority in the Senate and Assembly. Combined with a Dem governor, there is nothing they cannot get passed. Even the Republicans who end up getting into the minority party are squishy and put up little resistance.

This past summer the legislative branch passed a bunch of bills that finally broke my desire to stay here with my salary. Gov. Moonbeam signed into law a bill that forces the cattle industry (dairy and meat) into providing flatulent catching backpacks for all cows to wear, for their precious global warming efforts. He also signed a bill that permits early release of felons out of jail and has them live amongst the citizenry. Combine that with the draconian laws further limiting my Second Amendment rights by making ammunition costly and more difficult to obtain, making some of my firearms illegal to own, he has put more rights into criminals and made my family less safe to live here.

I am DONE. Good riddance. I am moving to a state that will appreciate my conservative, constitutional values.

This person’s lament echoes that of over a million (mostly middle-class) people who have departed California in recent decades. We were among them. My husband and I shook the California dust off our feet in 1992 and never looked back at that once-beautiful state.

But it’s not just California. Recent articles show a massive exodus from both New York City and Chicago as well.

What do these three locations (California, New York, Chicago) have in common? They are bastions of liberalism, cauldrons of experimental progressive policies, vanguards of whatever feel-good fiscally irresponsible nonsense disturbed minds can think up.

So when we read about populations draining out of certain locations, the conclusion is obvious. People aren’t fleeing New York or Chicago or California; people are fleeing liberalism. The festering cauldron of progressive thought ultimately makes places unlivable.

I’m honestly sorry for those freedom-loving conservatives who are unable (due to work or family commitments) to beat feet and flee the gold-plated state. And I welcome those honestly looking to escape the insidious poison. I do, however, bear a grudge with those who bring their poison with them and enthusiastically spread it to a new location, dragging everything down with them.

Keep reading.

BONUS: From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "WELL, THAT’S ONE WAY TO PUT IT: “California’s gas tax hike shows governor’s political skill” reads an AP headline this weekend."

H.R. McMaster Boots K. T. McFarland

Well, if the appointment as envoy to Singapore doesn't work out, K. T. McFarland can always head back to Fox News.

At Bloomberg, "McFarland to Exit White House as McMaster Consolidates Power":

K. T. McFarland has been asked to step down as deputy National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump after less than three months and is expected to be nominated as ambassador to Singapore, according to a person familiar with White House personnel moves.

The departure of the 65-year-old former Fox News commentator comes as Trump’s second National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, puts his own stamp on the National Security Council after taking over in February from retired General Michael Flynn.

McFarland proved not to be a good fit at the NSC, the person said, adding that Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was involved in the decision as well.

Her removal follows a reorganization of the NSC in the past week that removed Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist and senior counselor, from the principals committee, the Cabinet-level interagency forum that advises the president on pressing security matters.

Other officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were brought back onto the committee as “regular attendees,” reversing a move made in January. The changes were outlined in a presidential memorandum dated April 4.

Former Goldman Sachs executive Dina Powell stays on as another deputy national security adviser, and a second person is expected to be named to a similar role to replace McFarland...

More (via Memeorandum).

Trump Made All the Right Calls This Week

I've been thinking so much myself.

From Walter Russell Mead, at WSJ (via RCP), "In Striking Syria, Trump Made All the Right Calls":

President Trump faced his first serious foreign-policy test this week. To the surprise and perhaps frustration of his critics, he passed with flying colors.

In the first place, the president read the situation correctly. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s horrific and illegal use of chemical weapons against civilians was not merely an affront to international norms. It was a probe by Mr. Assad and his patrons to test the mettle of the new White House.

This must have looked like a good week to challenge Washington. The Trump administration is beset by critics. Most senior national-security posts remain unfilled. The White House is torn by infighting. The Republican Party is divided by the bitter primary campaign and its recent health-care fiasco.

President Trump concluded, correctly, that failing to respond effectively to Mr. Assad’s challenge would invite more probes and more tests. He moved quickly and decisively against the provocation, demonstrating that the days of strategic dithering are gone.

Second, Mr. Trump chose the right response: a limited missile strike against the Syrian air base that, according to American intelligence, had launched the vicious gas attack. This resonated well nearly everywhere. At home, it won approval from Jacksonians and others who want a strong president. The strikes vindicated America’s prestige and dealt a clear setback to those who seek to humiliate or marginalize the U.S. But no ground troops were involved and Mr. Trump made no move toward long-term counterinsurgency or nation-building, the type of campaign that many Americans, his base in particular, have learned to view skeptically.

Internationally, the strike was also popular. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, putting awkward phone calls behind him, spoke up forthrightly in Mr. Trump’s support. So did Canada’s Justin Trudeau, not usually considered a member of the Trump Fan Club, and Germany’s foreign minister, a Social Democrat whose party has been among the most critical of past American military action.

The strike reassured nervous allies, hungry for leadership but concerned about Mr. Trump’s temperament, that he is capable of a measured response intended to support a vital principle of international law. Friends of the U.S. will sweat less, and opponents will sweat more. That is a good thing.

Third, Mr. Trump handled the process well. Congress was briefed but not asked for approval, a decision inside the long-established norms that govern military action by American commanders in chief. Engaging in a war to overthrow Mr. Assad would be another matter, but so far Mr. Trump has stayed well within the mainstream of American presidents dating back to the 18th century.

The Trump administration notified Russia before the U.S. bombed the Syrian airfield. This is a process of its own. If this were the start of a long war, we wouldn’t give our adversaries advance warning about the opening salvo. However, by telling Moscow we were about to strike, the administration was signaling that the engagement would be limited, and the Russians could therefore temper their response. By using cruise missiles, the administration also guaranteed that the action would be impossible to prevent.

Finally, Mr. Trump gets extra points for deftness...

Keep reading.

Harvard Looks to Boot 'Puritans' from School Song

Leftists will erase our entire history before their done.

The problem, of course, is just because you change the lyrics doesn't change the facts of our country's founding, or of Harvard's. This is pretty despicable, frankly.

At NYT, "Harvard Seeks to Write ‘Puritans’ Out of Its Alma Mater":

Harvard is writing "the Puritans" out of its alma mater, seeking to make it more inclusive https://t.co/DnjVcJN6aV

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 8, 2017

For decades, Harvard students and alumni have sung an alma mater that calls on them to be heralds of light and bearers of love “till the stock of the Puritans die.”

University officials teach the refrain to freshmen on arrival and sing it again when the students graduate years later.

But this week, a university steeped in tradition said the time had come for a change.

To affirm Harvard’s commitment to inclusion in a time when college campuses are routinely finding themselves at the center of national debates on race and identity, university officials said they are seeking suggested rewrites of that disquieting final line. The contest is open only to members of the Harvard community.

The line about Puritans concludes a sentence that is “an exhortation to pursue the truth until a certain endpoint,” said Danielle S. Allen, a professor and political philosopher on the Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging, which launched the competition.

Harvard’s motto is “Veritas,” Latin for “truth,” she noted, adding, “there shouldn’t be any endpoint to the pursuit of truth, nor should we imply that the pursuit of truth is for any particular ethnic group.”

More.

Danielle Allen's an idiot.

A task force on "Inclusion and Belonging," pfft. These people belong in an asylum.

Also at Never Yet Melted, "The Stock of the Puritans Has Apparently Died":

Today, minority admittees and presiding administrations eagerly lobby for fundamentally changing the composition, constituency, and even the complexion of those schools. Matters have reached a point at which the non-traditional groups feel entitled to rename buildings and to purge references and memorials to illustrious alumni and benefactors on the basis of their own amour propre. Now, at Harvard, they are sending the founders and original constituency of the college into exile from the school’s alma mater. All this causes me to wonder: had the people who initiated the effort at diversity admissions been able to foresee this occurring, would they ever have admitted any of these minorities at all in the first place?

RTWT.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon: 'The U.S. is a Beacon of Morality' (VIDEO)

He's the ambassador to the U.N., which gives him an excellent vantage point to judge morality vs. evil.

Watch, at Fox News, "Israeli ambassador to the UN: The U.S. is a beacon of morality - Amb. Danny Danon shares his thoughts on 'America's News HQ'."

Amber Lee's Grand Prix Weather Forecast

The Long Beach Grand Prix's this weekend. Hey, if it's like today it should be perfect weather.

Here's the lovely Ms. Amber, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

You Could Read 200 Books Per Year

If you cut down on your frivolous social media consumption. And that reminds me, I was going to keep count of my books read this year, but I forgot. Too busy reading, shopping, and blogging books, heh.

I don't know about this guy's numbers on the hours of book reading versus social media, but I think 200 books a year is easily doable, especially if one reads short books (and short for me is 200-300 pages, which I can finish in a couple of days).

At Quartz:

In the time you spend on social media each year, you could read 200 books https://t.co/ClGlaPiWr2

— Quartz (@qz) April 6, 2017

Anne M. Butler, Daughters of Joy, Sisters of Misery

The further you get into the weeds of this literature, the more interesting are the rare finds.

This is amazing.

At Amazon, Anne M. Butler, Daughters of Joy, Sisters of Misery: Prostitutes in the American West, 1865-90.

Ray Allen Billington, Land of Savagery, Land of Promise

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Ray Allen Billington, Land of Savagery, Land of Promise: The European Image of the American Frontier in the Nineteenth Century.

PlayStation 3

At Amazon, PlayStation 3 500 GB System.

More, Music and Entertainment.

And, Mountain House Just In Case...Classic Assortment Bucket.

Here, KIND Breakfast Bars, Peanut Butter, Gluten Free, 1.8 Ounce, 32 Count.

Plus, Samsung USB 3.0 Data Cable for Galaxy Note 3, 2 Pack - Non-Retail Packaging - White.

Still more, Samsung UN55KU6600 Curved 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2016 Model).

BONUS: Don Trent Jacobs, ed., Unlearning the Language of Conquest: Scholars Expose Anti-Indianism in America.

Anne Vyalitsyna Uncovered for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2017 (VIDEO)

She's so sweet.

Gorsuch Confirmed (VIDEO)

At USA Today, "Neil Gorsuch confirmed for Supreme Court."

And at Truth Revolt, "MUST WATCH: Sen. Cornyn Calls Out Hypocritical Dem Outrage of Filibuster Rules They Made Up — Forget 'Nuclear Option', it should be called the 'Harry Reid Option'."

Watch it at the link.

Brooke Burke-Charvet Vacation in St. Barts (PHOTOS)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Donald Trump 'Neocon Puppet'?

Heh.

I got a kick out of seeing Paul Joseph Watson blow a gasket last night:

I guess Trump wasn't "Putin's puppet" after all, he was just another deep state/Neo-Con puppet.

I'm officially OFF the Trump train.

— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) April 7, 2017

And then all kinds of reports today about the "alt-right" meltdown at the administration's Syria strike.

At the Atlantic, the Daily Beast, and the New York Times, among others, I'm sure:

“What Trump did was nothing less than a betrayal" https://t.co/gQWa3dA3om

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) April 7, 2017

Alt-right turns on "neo-con puppet" Trump after bombing Syria https://t.co/FhhfcUJQUC pic.twitter.com/OHzmtjwFd3

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 7, 2017

"I'm officially OFF the Trump train." Trump's far-right supporters turn on him after the Syria missile strike. https://t.co/CRIDWz4PgB

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 7, 2017

They're paleocons. The "alt-right" are basically "paleocons" opposed to a forward U.S. foreign and national security policy. I'm not a paleocon, lol.

Israel and Obama's Political war

From Caroline Glick:

Eli Lake from Bloomberg set off a firestorm in the US this week with his revelation on Monday that in the last six months of the Obama administration, Susan Rice, former president Barack Obama’s national security adviser, requested that the US intelligence community enable her to use foreign intelligence collection as a means of gathering information about Donald Trump’s advisers.

According to Lake’s story, during the course of the US presidential campaign, and with steadily rising intensity after President Donald Trump won the November 2016 election, Rice used her access to intercepted communications of foreign intelligence targets to gather information on Trump’s advisers. Some of those reports were then leaked, injuriously, to the media in violation of US criminal statute.

Whereas in the normal course of events, the identities of American citizens whose conversations with foreigners are intercepted by the US intelligence community are shielded, in the final months of the Obama administration, Rice repeatedly – on “dozens of occasions” – asked that the identities of Americans who conversed with foreigners be exposed.

The Americans in question were Trump’s advisers.

Lake’s scoop both confirmed and expanded House Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes’s charges from two weeks ago against the Obama White House. Nunes said that he had seen evidence that the Obama administration collected information on incoming Trump administration officials that had no intelligence value. In other words, Nunes alleged that the data gathering was not for national security purposes.

This week’s discovery that Rice played a central role in the intelligence collection regarding Trump’s advisers brings Nunes’s allegations that the outgoing Obama administration conducted surveillance of the Trump team to the highest reaches of the administration. Now that Rice has been exposed, it is impossible to claim that in the event such surveillance occurred, it did not reflect the Obama administration’s concerted policy.

With the exceptions of Obama and his top adviser and confidante Valerie Jarrett, Rice was the top official in the White House.

Lake’s story and subsequent stories have obvious implications for the public’s assessment of Trump’s March 4 allegation on Twitter that Obama spied on him. But the Rice story is equally, if not more, important for what it teaches us about Obama’s mode of governing.

The Rice story strengthens the assessment that for eight years, Obama and his associates weaponized the federal government to wage a political war against their domestic political opponents in a manner that is simply unprecedented...

Still more.

Gramscian Damage

A great 11-year-old essay, from Eric Raymond.

Hat Tip: Instapundit.