Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Graham Allison, Destined for War

Following-up from previously, "Team Trump's Thucydides Fascination."

At Amazon, Graham Allison, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?

Team Trump's Thucydides Fascination

A good piece, at Politico:



Republican Karen Handel Wins Special Election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District (VIDEO)

I was on Twitter last night, and it was serious laugh riot after Jon Ossoff's epic defeat.

As readers might have noticed, I wasn't all that invested in this race. I think I posted maybe once on it (I can search the archives, heh). And frankly, I wasn't too worried about Republicans keeping the district. For one thing, I don't trust the polls, and as it turns out, they were wrong again. The other main thing is that Georgia's 6th congressional district is historically Republican, with Handel having something like GOP +10% automatic margin. It was over-hyped, everywhere, and this race once again reflects badly on the Democrats, national radical progressives, and the hopelessly left-wing mainstream media.

Here's the current headline at the New York Times, via Memeorandum, "Democrats Seethe After Georgia Loss: ‘Our Brand Is Worse Than Trump’."

And from Patricia Murphy, who was on the ground in Georgia yesterday, at the Daily Beast, "Jon Ossoff's $23 Million Loss Shows Dems Have No Idea How to Win in the Age of Trump."

Also, at Truth Feed, "LOL: CNN Reacts to Ossoff’s Humiliating Loss - Their Faces SAY IT ALL!", and the Daily Wire, "Everyone's Laughing Their #Ossoff at This CNN Photo."

CNN Ossoff photo IMG_5279_zps1dnjdmm5.jpg

More, from political scientist Larry Sabato:



The president's party normally loses seats in midterm elections, so the Democrats, as demoralized as they are today, can keep hope alive for some gains in 2018. Whether they can pick off enough seats to retake the majority remains to be seen, and as it's 18 months away, I imagine it doesn't do a lot of good to start handicapping individual races at this point. Let's see what happens during primary season next year. If Democrats wise up and nominate really good candidates, not carpetbaggers and far-left radicals, perhaps we'll see some real competition. But all the normal structural factors remain in play, especially partisan gerrymandering that's helped the GOP and the polarized ideological tribalism that means there's few undecided voters in districts around the country for Democrats to attract.

One thing's for sure: If the Dems don't retake the House next year, the lols are going to be a million more times better than last night, and they were pretty good, heh.

More at Memeorandum.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Frank Dikötter, Mao's Great Famine

At Amazon, Frank Dikötter, Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962.

Gwyneth Paltrow on Holiday in St. Tropez

At London's Daily Mail, "PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Gwyneth Paltrow shows off her sensational figure in skimpy black bikini while soaking up the sun on luxury yacht in Saint Tropez."

Also at Drunken Stepfather, "GWYNETH PALTROW BIKINI EROTICA OF THE DAY."

Alessandra Ambrosio Steps Out in Santa Monica

She's probably over-the-hill, but I've still got a thing for this woman.

At London's Daily Mail, "Alessandra Ambrosio steps out in thigh-grazing denim playsuit as she enjoys breakfast with daughter Anja in Santa Monica."

Gal Gadot Paid Just $300,000 for 'Wonder Woman'

Well, that does seem kinda low. But folks are comparing her's to Henry Cavill's $14 million payday for 2013's "Man of Steel."

It turns out, though, that Cavill's $14 million figure includes royalty payments and bonuses (or however you calculate the after-market residuals).

Gal Gadot's up-front $300,000 is before royalties and bonuses, and she's in contract renegotiations for her upcoming reprisals as Diana Prince (since "Wonder Wonder" performed spectacularly in theaters).

In any case, at London's Daily Mail and Vanity Fair:


Jill Stein Isn't Sorry

I think she's scum, personally.

But I got a load out of this, heh:
"Democrats have long accused the Green Party of being like a watermelon—green on the outside, red on the inside—and Stein’s closeness to a Kremlin-backed entity like RT has only fueled those suspicions."

'Bachelor in Paradise' to Resume Production

Well, I suppose it's a good there wasn't a sexual assault on location, but who're ya gonna believe? A lot of money's at stake.

At NYT and People Magazine (which reports that Ms. Olympios' own attorneys will continue the investigation):


Added: At London's Daily Mail:



Bing West, The March Up

At Amazon, Bing West, The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the United States Marines.

Monday, June 19, 2017

Simple Deluxe Pair of XL Heavy Duty Hammock Tree Straps

At Amazon, Simple Deluxe Pair of XL Heavy Duty Hammock Tree Straps,12 FT 21 Loops each & 100% No Stretch Suspension Kit,Lightweight Portable Camping Hammock Accessories,Carrying Pouch & 2 Carabiners Included.

Plus, keep shopping for more of Today's Deals.

BONUS: Antony Beevor, The Second World War.

Noam Maggor, Brahmin Capitalism

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Noam Maggor, Brahmin Capitalism: Frontiers of Wealth and Populism in America’s First Gilded Age.

Lisa De Pasquale, The Social Justice Warrior Handbook

*BUMPED.*

From Lisa De Pasquale, available September 26th, at Amazon, The Social Justice Warrior Handbook: A Practical Guide for Snowflaks, Millennials, and Generation Z.

The Social Justice Warrior Handbook will unlock the secrets to identifying social injustice and surviving in a world that doesn’t care about your feelings.

Whether you’re a militant feminist, social media activist, workplace warrior, privileged college student, or Hollywood actress desperate to be taken seriously, The Social Justice Warrior Handbook will help you navigate the complex, exciting world of activism with minimal effort.

Discover:

* What to do when someone assumes your gender
* How to infiltrate a right-wing event
* How to fake authentic vintage style
* How to survive a holiday meal that doesn’t follow your food philosophy
* What you need in your SJW bug-out bag
* How to do an epic takedown of someone more successful than you

Remember: The only thing necessary for the triumph of good over evil is to tweet about it.

SJWs photo DCHSai0XsAApgLO_zpsgtzj91xa.jpg

Amber Lee's Sunny and Even Hotter Forecast

The high-pressure system still hasn't peaked and we're going to see record temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday, with triple-digits in many parts of the Southland.

Luckily, it's been quite enjoyable near the coasts.

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



Tucker Carlson Back on Air After Treatment for Emergency Appendicitis (VIDEO)

He looks great!

And I'm so happy and glad for him. He's the main draw at Fox News now, and he looks chipper.

Background here, at IJR, "Tucker Carlson Had to Be Treated for Emergency Appendicitis — And His Critics Wish His Condition Was Much Worse."

And from tonight's show, "How Dr. Marc Siegel Helped Tucker Through Appendicitis."

Newt Gingrich, Understanding Trump

*BUMPED.*

Looks like a good read. Gingrich is a prolific writer, but he knows what he's talking about. He's a hustler, for sure. He hustles the bucks, and in this case he's clearly able to publish a book exploiting his establishment insider creds.

Still, he's helluva lot more trustworthy on this than most.

At Amazon, Newt Gingrich, Understanding Trump.

The Tactics Used by Hecklers Against Megyn Kelly Will Soon Be Used Against Rachel Maddow and Others

I said so much on Twitter the other day. Frankly, I was kind of shocked that NBC caved to the mob.

But see Jack Shafer, at Politico, "Megyn Kelly Pantses Alex Jones":

For all the pre-interview fuss, NBC’s new star exposed the Infowars host for what he is. But the controversy was never really about him.

The censorious powers of the heckler’s veto have evolved now to the point that people are willing to call for the banning and shunning of works of journalism not yet published. Former Fox News Channel and current NBC News anchor Megyn Kelly got the treatment this week as news of her Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly interview with Infowars mainspring Alex Jones, well before it was scheduled to air June 18, made the rounds. At least the Ayatollah Khomeini waited for the publication of Satanic Verses before he issued a fatwa ordering the murder of its author, Salman Rushdie.

Sandy Hook Elementary families implored NBC News to dump the segment because Jones has called the Newtown, Connecticut, school killings a hoax—by actors, not real people—designed, Jones said, to encourage new gun control laws. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio concurred, writing, “Pull the segment.” The NBC affiliate in nearby Hartford refused to air the episode because the “wounds of that day that have yet to heal.” Fleeing from the controversy, advertiser JPMorgan Chase dropped its spots from the show, and the usual voices damned Kelly for giving Jones “a platform.”

Not to be outshone, Jones performed some culture jamming of his own, releasing his own secretly recorded audio of the pre-interview in which Kelly buttered him up. “It’s not going to be some gotcha hit piece, I can promise you that,” Kelly told Jones on the tape. Predictably, Jones made his own call for a boycott, tweeting, “I’m calling for @megynkelly to cancel the airing of our interview for misrepresenting my views on Sandy Hook.”

When Kelly’s show finally aired, she took the mendacious Jones apart in such a textbook manner you had to wonder what all the shouting had been about. The Jones pattern, she said at the segment’s top, is making “reckless accusations followed by equivocations and excuses” when questioned. The two best examples of this are his promotion of the “Pizzagate“ lies about a satanic child porn ring and his wild allegation that Chobani was “importing Migrant Rapists,” as Infowars hyped its report on Twitter. In both cases, lawsuits have forced Jones to retract and apologize for airing these dishonest stories, and yet in conversation with Kelly he still hedges and quibbles like a con artist in an effort to have his conspiracy pizza and keep his yogurt, too. Likewise with the pathetic claims about the Sandy Hook killings. He’s still throwing the see-through drapery of devil’s advocacy to blur the fact that on most subjects he’s talking out of his tinfoil hat.

Short of waterboarding him, I don’t know what more Kelly could have done to expose Jones’ dark methods...

*****

Most viewers extend to broadcasters like Anderson Cooper, Chris Wallace, Jake Tapper and Erin Burnett the sort of goodwill they draw on to tackle fraught topics and subjects that will end up upsetting somebody. Due to her Fox background, Kelly doesn’t command that sort of goodwill—the protests against her show are more about her than they are Alex Jones or Sandy Hook. Kelly’s enemies, places like liberal agitprop outfit Media Matters for America, which has been riding this story hard, would likely be raising a ruckus if she went to work as a Today co-host and did celebrity fluff.

Would the calls for a Kelly boycott be so insistent if a similar technique hadn’t succeeded in driving Fox’s Bill O’Reilly off his network? My guess is that they wouldn’t. Kelly won this round, but she wasn’t the only one to pay the price. If you like edgy, truth-telling journalism, the spirited campaign against her has written a heckler’s veto playbook that future activists and scolds will eventually apply to your preferred anchor, be it Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity. You’ve been warned.

Douglas Murray, The Strange Death of Europe

Out tomorrow, at Amazon, Douglas Murray, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam.

Gillian Anderson Bikini Photos

Not something you see everyday!

At Drunken Stepfather, "GILLIAN ANDERSON OF THE DAY."

Harold D. Clarke, Matthew Goodwin, and Paul Whiteley, Brexit

A #1 New Release.

At Amazon, Harold D. Clarke, Matthew Goodwin, and Paul Whiteley, Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union.