Summer Reading for Republicans

At Foreign Policy, "What Are Republicans Reading? An Elephants in the Room Summer 2017 Reading List."

Some suggestions cited, in no particular order:

* Garrett Graff, Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die.

* Lynne Olson, Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War.

* Brian Devereux, Escape to Pagan: The True Story of One Family’s Fight to Survive in World War II Occupied Asia.

* Thomas-Durell Young, Anatomy of Post-Communist European Defense Institutions: The Mirage of Military Modernity.

* Peter Schweitzer, Victory: The Reagan Administration’s Secret Strategy that Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union.

* Misagh Parsa, Democracy in Iran: Why It Failed and How It Might Succeed.

* Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam.

* Edward Luce, The Retreat of Western Liberalism.

* Sinclair McKay, The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The WWII Codebreaking Centre and the Men and Women Who Worked There.

* Thomas Wright, All Measures Short of War: The Contest for the Twenty-First Century and the Future of American Power.

Interesting.

Extremely heavy on foreign policy and international relations, and still more at the link.

Tom Wolfe, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby

At Amazon, Tom Wolfe, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.

Niall Ferguson, Empire

At Amazon, Niall Ferguson, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power.

Genevieve Morton Uncovered for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2017 (VIDEO)

Nice.

Mark Levin, Rediscovering Americanism

*BUMPED.*

See Mark Levin, Rediscovering Americanism: And the Tyranny of Progressivism.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Say White House Officials Promised That National Enquirer Hit Piece Would Be Spiked if They Apologized to President Trump

As is usual every day, I woke up to this news in my Twitter feed this morning.

It's like Groundhog's Day of fake news, outrage news.

See, "Statement From The National ENQUIRER."

And the full expose, "AFFAIR GAME! Joe & Mika: TV Couple’s Sleazy Cheating Scandal."

More at Newsweek, via Mediagazer, "'MORNING JOE' HOSTS ACCUSE TRUMP OF BLACKMAILING, THREATENING THEM OVER 'NATIONAL ENQUIRER' STORY."

And from Gabriel Sherman, at New York Magazine, "What Really Happened Between Donald Trump, the Hosts of Morning Joe, and the National Enquirer":

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump used his close alliance with the National Enquirer to attack his enemies. Now that he’s President, he’s continuing to benefit from the tabloid’s support.

This morning in a Washington Post op-ed, Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski disclosed that White House officials offered to spike an Enquirer story about their romance if the pair apologized to Trump for the show’s critical coverage. In recent months, Scarborough and Brzezinski have questioned Trump’s mental state and fitness for office. They elaborated on the op-ed on MSNBC this morning. Morning Joe regular Donny Deutsch said it was “blackmail” for Trump to use a hit-piece in the Enquirer to extract an apology from media critics. Trump then tweeted a quasi-confirmation of the behind-the-scenes conversations, saying that Scarborough called to enlist his help to kill the story. Scarborough called Trump’s version a “lie,” tweeting that he never spoke to the president.

According to three sources familiar with the private conversations, what happened was this: After the inauguration, Morning Joe’s coverage of Trump turned sharply negative. “This presidency is fake and failed,” Brzezinski said on March 6, for example. Around this time, Scarborough and Brzezinski found out the Enquirer was preparing a story about their affair. While Scarborough and Brzezinski’s relationship had been gossiped about in media circles for some time, it was not yet public, and the tabloid was going to report that they had left their spouses to be together...

Still more.

Brian Merchant, The One Device

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Brian Merchant, The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone.

WATCH: Dana Loesch Takes on Critics Who Accuse Her of 'Inciting Violence' in New Video for the NRA

Following-up from yesterday, "The Clenched Fist of Truth (VIDEO)."

Here's USA Today's MSM take, "NRA video declares war on liberals, critics say."

What a joke. Totally laughable.

Here she is on Tucker's last night:

Small Plane Crashes on I-405 in Irvine (VIDEO)

Well, this is likely to make the national evening news broadcasts, from right here, nearby home.

At the O.C. Register, "Small plane crashes on I-405 freeway at MacArthur, catches fire, 2 hospitalized."

And at CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Plane Crashes on NB 405 Freeway in Irvine."

The Krauthammer Conjecture

Here's Charles Krauthammer's regular Friday column (which runs at the loathed WaPo), at the O.C. Register, "Why do they even play the game?":

In mathematics, when you’re convinced of some eternal truth but can’t quite prove it, you offer it as a hypothesis (with a portentous capital H) and invite the world, future generations if need be, to prove you right or wrong. Often, a cash prize is attached.

In that spirit, but without the cash, I offer the Krauthammer Conjecture: In sports, the pleasure of winning is less than the pain of losing. By any Benthamite pleasure/pain calculation, the sum is less than zero. A net negative of suffering. Which makes you wonder why anybody plays at all.

Winning is great. You get to hoot and holler, hoist the trophy, shower in champagne, ride the open parade car and boycott the White House victory ceremony (choose your cause).

But, as most who have engaged in competitive sports know, there’s nothing to match the amplitude of emotion brought by losing. When the Cleveland Cavaliers lost the 2015 NBA Finals to Golden State, LeBron James sat motionless in the locker room, staring straight ahead, still wearing his game jersey, for 45 minutes after the final buzzer.

Here was a guy immensely wealthy, widely admired, at the peak of his powers — yet stricken, inconsolable. So it was for Ralph Branca, who gave up Bobby Thomson’s shot heard ’round the world in 1951. So too for Royals shortstop Freddie Patek, a (literal) picture of dejection sitting alone in the dugout with his head down after his team lost the 1977 pennant to the New York Yankees.

In 1986, the “Today Show” commemorated the 30th anniversary of Don Larsen pitching the only perfect game in World Series history. They invited Larsen and his battery mate, Yogi Berra. And Dale Mitchell, the man who made the last out. Mitchell was not amused. “I ain’t flying 2,000 miles to talk about striking out,” he fumed. And anyway, the called third strike was high and outside. It had been 30 years and Mitchell was still mad. (Justly so. Even the Yankee fielders acknowledged that the final pitch was outside the strike zone.)

For every moment of triumph, there is an unequal and opposite feeling of despair. Take that iconic photograph of Muhammad Ali standing triumphantly over the prostrate, semiconscious wreckage of Sonny Liston. Great photo. Now think of Liston. Do the pleasure/pain calculus.

And we are talking here about professional athletes — not even the legions of Little Leaguers, freshly eliminated from the playoffs, sobbing and sniffling their way home, assuaged only by gallons of Baskin-Robbins...

More.

Pankaj Ghemawat, The Laws of Globalization

At Amazon, Pankaj Ghemawat, The Laws of Globalization and Business Applications.

The Tip of the Iceberg in CNN #FakeNews

See the excellent piece, from Mollie Hemingway, at the Federalist, "CNN’s Latest Retraction Is Just the Tip of the Fake News Iceberg."

Via Ace of Spades HQ, "As the Russia Narrative Implodes Hilariously, Apparently the Next Big Scandal Will Be 'Trump Said Something About Mika'."

(I haven't blogged about Trump's tweets because I don't care; Trump is gonna Trump, but the left's got nothing else so they're playing it up. See Memeorandum, "Trump No Longer Seems Able to Hide His Raw Misogyny. Good.")

Benjamin M. Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth

At Amazon, Benjamin M. Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth.

Amber Lee's Comfortable Cooler Forecast

We've had local wildfires over the last few days, and the air quality's been nasty at times.

But the coastal areas have been quite comfortable. I'm enjoying the nice breezy weather.

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

Eric Bolling, The Swamp

*BUMPED.*

This just came out yesterday Tuesday. It's a great summer for conservative reading!

At Amazon, Eric Bolling, The Swamp: Washington's Murky Pool of Corruption and Cronyism and How Trump Can Drain It.

Hilary Rhoda in Beverly Hills

At London's Daily Mail, "Brunette beauty! Hilary Rhoda in purple jumpsuit for Beverly Hills photo shoot."

PREVIOUSLY: "Hilary Rhoda Gets Oiled Up (VIDEO)."

Blog Slow Loading in Chrome

As noted, the blog's not been loading.

So, I checked my browsers. I'm still having problems in Chrome (and will update when I get it fixed).

But I fixed the problem on my iPhone 7. Check this piece, at iGeek Blogs, "Safari Running Slow on iPhone or iPad? Five Tips to Speed It Up."

The full blog, not [just] the mobile URL, loads in about 2-3 seconds 1 second on my iPhone after implementing the fixes at that piece, so I know there's something going on in Chrome that I can't figure out.

I haven't had complaints, and the traffic's been better than normal this week, so I'm not too worried about general accessibility. I'd just like to my own reading to be enjoyable and blog performance to be good.

More later.

Thanks for reading.

Sean Hannity Blasts CNN's Fake News Anti-Trump Agenda (VIDEO)

I've been watching the Angels/Dodgers freeway series this last three nights, at 7:00pm. I'm usually watching Angels baseball anyway in the evenings when they're playing at home. That, and I'm taking a break from watching cable news generally, even Fox News.

But Hannity deserves kudos for staying on the case. Last night's monologue was a comprehensive chronicle and indictment of the network's pathetic anti-Trump fake news agenda and programming.

This is devastating.

Watch, "Hannity: CNN leading the collapse of liberal media."

Today's Deals

Shop, Gold Box Deals.

And, Electronics, Computers & Accessories.

Plus, KIND Breakfast Bar Peanut Butter.

Also, Home & Kitchen - Best Sellers.

More, TP-Link Smart LED Light Bulb, Wi-Fi, Dimmable White, 50W Equivalent, Works with Amazon Alexa, 1-Pack (LB100).

And, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 6 Feet (1.8 Meters) - White.

BONUS: E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class.

The Clenched Fist of Truth (VIDEO)

It's Dana Loesch, for the NRA, here.

And at the Hill, "NRA defends 'closed fist of truth' ad."

The NRA tweeted its support here.

(I'm not embedding tweets right now, as the blog's been loading slow. We'll see how it goes after few days.)