Venus Williams is Gracious in Defeat at #Wimbledon

I was up at 6:30am.

Then just after, I got a pot of coffee brewing and sat down to watch. Venus had a set point game going. But she botched it, and then just ran out of gas, completely. Garbiñe Muguruza was dominating. Really dominating.

Venus was totally gracious in defeat, though. And I thought Muguruza was a little arrogant and cocky, not humble at all, although I'm sure that was just me.

In any case, at USA Today, "Defiant Venus Williams 'doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing' at 37."

Margaret MacMillan, The War That Ended Peace

At Amazon, Margaret MacMillan, The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914.

Sally Marks, The Illusion of Peace

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Sally Marks, The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe, 1918-1933.

Barry Rubin, Silent Revolution

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Barry Rubin, Silent Revolution: How the Left Rose to Political Power and Cultural Dominance.

President Trump Was Good-Humored with Reporters on Air Force One for an Hour, in Stark Contrast to How He Treats the News Media in Public

Following-up from Thursday, where I mentioned, "President Trump is killing it in Paris!"

When he gets away from the leftist siege of D.C., he loosens up. Has a good time. And then you find him as a raconteur with the media correspondents. They're not used to it, so it becomes a story.

President Trump is a nice guy. You'd definitively like to have a Big Mac with him, lol.

See the New York Times, at Memeorandum, "Dropping the Bluster, Trump Revives Banter With Reporters":

WASHINGTON — The Donald J. Trump who turned up in the press cabin of Air Force One on Wednesday evening, as his plane crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the way to Paris, was starkly different from the one who publicly pillories the news media but surprisingly familiar to reporters who know him well.

The president had taken off his tie but kept on his jacket — a wardrobe change that for him qualifies as casual Friday — and he was in a happy-hour frame of mind. Expansive, engaging, even at times ebullient, Mr. Trump held forth for an hour, addressing reporters by name and alighting on topics as different as Chinese history and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

It was a loose, good-humored side of Mr. Trump that the public rarely sees amid the fusillade of angry speeches and venomous tweets that have characterized the president’s first six months in the White House. And it came to light only because he retroactively put the session on the record, asking a reporter the next morning why she had not quoted his remarks.

White House aides say they see more of this side in the Oval Office, where the president has debated advisers about issues like sending more troops to Afghanistan. Diplomats say their bosses see more of it in meetings, where Mr. Trump has engaged even those who are deeply skeptical of his views, like Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

But this is hardly the view most people have of a president who built his populist appeal on contempt for the mainstream media; who thundered on Inauguration Day, “This American carnage stops right here”; and who told supporters on his 100th day in office, “If the media’s job is to be honest and tell the truth, the media deserves a very, very big fat failing grade.”

In some ways, Mr. Trump has reversed the usual dichotomy between the public and private president.

“One of the great differences between Trump and more successful politicians, like J.F.K. and F.D.R., is that they would vent their spleen in private, but in public, they would project a more humorous and civilized face,” said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian.

John F. Kennedy, he said, canceled the White House’s subscriptions to The New York Herald Tribune out of pique at its coverage, even as he wooed and won over reporters. Mr. Trump has publicly tarred reporters, like Jim Acosta of CNN, while continuing to watch their networks.

The White House’s antagonism toward the news media is born of genuine grievance and a calculated strategy that it plays well with Mr. Trump’s political base. But his hunger for press — which he nourished over 40 years of cultivating reporters, taking their calls on virtually any subject and calling them out of the blue to chat — remains undiminished.

When Mr. Trump came to the back of Air Force One, his deputy press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, stipulated that the conversation would be off the record. Despite suffering one of the worst weeks of his political career, he was in a buoyant mood. He fended off Ms. Sanders when she interrupted him to suggest he should return to his cabin so the reporters could get some sleep (they assured him they were not tired)...

More.

Also at Althouse, "'Expansive, engaging, even at times ebullient...a loose, good-humored side of Mr. Trump" — described in the NYT today."

And still more at JustOneMinute, "Now Who Wants to Be Liked?"

City of Anaheim Removes Bus Benches Near Disneyland, So the Homeless Have One Less Place to Sleep

I have no recommended solution here.

After reading about homelessness, you find there are some people who don't want to be institutionalized. They don't want all the fancy rehab treatments and shelters. They want to be free, even with psychiatric problems. So, at some level you'll always have street-people. What to do? Well, for the City of Anaheim, remove more and more of the bus benches near Disneyland, lest you give the homeless too comfortable a shelter for the night.

I guess this is just one of those shake your head stories. I don't know.

At the Los Angeles Times, "While homelessness surges in Disneyland's shadow, Anaheim removes bus benches":

Sweat rolled down Ron Jackson’s face as he pondered, as he does every day just steps from “the Happiest Place on Earth,” where he would sleep.

The homeless man’s hangout in Anaheim had until recently been a grimy bus bench across the street from Disneyland.

Then, one day, the benches around the amusement park — including his regular spot outside of a 7-Eleven at Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue — disappeared.

Soon, people were competing for pavement.

“No more sleeping spot. Just concrete,” Jackson, 47, said on a sweltering day. “There were already people claiming the space.”

The vanishing benches were Anaheim’s response to complaints about the homeless population around Disneyland. Public work crews removed 20 benches from bus shelters after callers alerted City Hall to reports of vagrants drinking, defecating or smoking pot in the neighborhood near the amusement park’s entrance, officials said.

The situation is part of a larger struggle by Orange County to deal with a rising homeless population. A survey last year placed the number of those without shelter at 15,300 people, compared with 12,700 two years earlier.

Desperation amid Orange County’s riches

In a wealthy county known for suburban living and sun-dotted beaches, the signs of the homeless crisis are getting harder to ignore.

At the county’s civic center in Santa Ana, homeless encampments — complete with tents and furniture and flooring made from cardboard boxes — block walkways and unnerve some visitors. Along the Santa Ana River near Angel Stadium, whole communities marked by blue tarp have sprung up. In Laguna Beach, a shelter this summer is testing an outreach program in which volunteers walk the streets offering support and housing assistance to homeless people.

Cities across California — notably Los Angeles and San Francisco — are dealing with swelling ranks of the homeless. But officials in Orange County said most suburban communities simply don’t have the resources and experience to keep up.

Susan Price, Orange County's director of care coordination, said officials are trying to build a coordinated approach involving all of the more than 30 disparate cities that takes into account the different causes of homelessness, including economic woes, a lack of healthcare and recent reforms in the criminal justice system.

Most cities "don't have capacity to respond to all the issues of homelessness effectively. That's why we need a regional strategy,” Price said. "Every city has been grappling with this issue and not all cities are full-service so that means we need to find out what each other is doing and figure out how to combine resources.”

The homeless problem often stands in stark contrast to the perceptions many have about Orange County...

Come to think of it, though, sounds like some of the people, just drinking and smoking pot, maybe need to just get cleaned up and find a job. You can't just be bumming for handouts all the time, panhandling and causing "broken windows" style crimes. If that's so, perhaps a city crackdown is indeed a remedy.

But it's like I said, I'm not sure what to do about this. Seems like homelessness took off in the O.C. after the Great Recession hit, and it hasn't subsided much with the so-called economic recovery.

Blame the Democrats, I guess.

Still more at the link.

Thanks to the Reader Who Bought Extra Strength Horny Goat Weed Extract with Muira Puama, Maca Root, and L Arginine — All Natural Boost for Men and Women!

Heh.

Maybe I'll pick up a couple of bottles for myself, lol.

At Amazon, Extra Strength Horny Goat Weed Extract with Muira Puama, Maca Root, L Arginine, 1000mg Epimedium, Icariins - for Men & Women - All Natural Boost (Havasu Nutrition).

Thanks again!

And thanks to all of my readers who're shopping through my Amazon links.

As you know, I don't blog for money, but I'm having more fun than ever blogging about books, and linking my great finds through the Amazon webpage. All your purchases fund an associate's commission, at no extra cost to yourself.

It's really appreciated!

Sean Hannity: Democrats and Leftist Media Seek to Delegitimize and Destroy President Trump (VIDEO)

I don't check these things, but I'll bet Hannity's ratings are through the roof. I do know leftists tune in. I mentioned it the other day.

In any case, here's last night's monologue, at Fox News, "Hannity: Real collusion is between Democrats and the media (VIDEO)."

Michael A. Barnhart, Japan Prepares for Total War

At Amazon, Michael A. Barnhart, Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919–1941.

Akira Iriye, Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific

At Amazon, Akira Iriye, The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific.

Edward Vose Gulick, Europe's Classical Balance of Power

At Amazon, Edward Vose Gulick, Europe's Classical Balance of Power: A Case History of the Theory and Practice of One of the Great Concepts of European Statecraft.

Evelyn Taft's Heat Advisory Forecast

That high pressure's coming on strong this weekend.

It'll be pushing 90 degrees in the L.A./O.C. metro areas, and double-digits in the valleys. Palm Spring's expecting 113 degrees.

So, stay cool if you're in the area.

Here's the lovely Ms. Evelyn, who's looking great!

For CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Martin Gilbert, The First World War

At Amazon, Martin Gilbert, The First World War: A Complete History.

Gerhard L. Weinberg, A World at Arms

At the time, back in 1994, this book was considered one of the best ever published on the war.

At Amazon, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II.

Nina Agdal's Vajazzle (VIDEO)

Via Theo Spark:

New Demi Rose Bikini Pics

She's really spectacular.

At London's Daily Mail, "Busty Demi Rose Mawby leaves VERY little to the imagination as she flaunts her assets and eye-popping derriere in a scanty bikini while sunning in Ibiza."

Also, "Sun's out, buns out! Demi Rose Mawby flaunts her eye-popping peachy derriere in skimpy thong-cut swimsuit during Ibiza getaway."

She calls Ibiza her "second home."

BONUS: At the Sun U.K., "GOD DEM! Demi Rose and glamour model Abigail Ratchford go topless in VERY racy underwear in sizzling new photo shoot: Glamour model shows off her incredible bum in sexy undies and suspenders in mansion shoot with her equally sexy American pal."

Duke University Historian Nancy MacLean Lashes Out at Critics of Her Book, Democracy in Chains

I blogged about the book a couple of weeks ago, when I noticed it was catching quite a buzz, "Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains." Now Professor MacLean's catching a lot of flak for her seriously shoddy scholarship.

Instapundit's been on the case for a while now. See, "NANCY MACLEAN’S DEMOCRACY IN CHAINS: Yet another devastating critique," and "IF YOU CAN’T CRITICIZE LIBERTARIANS WITHOUT LYING ABOUT THEM, MAYBE YOU CAN’T CRITICIZE THEM AT ALL: Some dubious claims in Nancy MacLean’s ‘Democracy in Chains,’ continued." (Check Glenn's search for "Nancy MacLean" for even more hits.)

And here's Inside Higher Ed from a couple of days ago, "Stealth Attack on Liberal Scholar?" She's not "liberal," of course. She'a radical leftist.

And a little blog literature review of the debate, at Cafe Hayek, "Nancy MacLean Unraveled."

Finally, even leftists have taken issue with MacLean. See Henry Farrell and Steven Teles, at Vox, "Even the intellectual left is drawn to conspiracy theories about the right. Resist them" (safe link):

A deep, historical study of public choice would be welcome, and [James] Buchanan’s role in the development of the thought and organizational infrastructure of the right has generally been overlooked. Unfortunately, the book is an example of precisely the kind of work on the right that we do not need, and the intellectuals of the left who have praised it are doing their side no favors...

Ouch.

I'm sure there'll be more outrage surrounding this story, so expect updates.

Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War: Explaining World War I.

David Fromkin, Europe's Last Summer

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, David Fromkin, Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914?

'I'm Bored'

It was the funniest thing: Early this morning, checking Twitter, I see this NBC fake news piece in my feed, "Former Soviet Counter Intelligence Officer at Meeting With Donald Trump Jr. and Russian Lawyer," and then all of a sudden I start singing Iggy Pop's "I'm Bored" in my head, lol.

That's a safe link at Memeorandum. No need to give the idiots at NBC any traffic from my blog.

I'm really bored with the Russia fake news story.

In any case, "I'm Bored" appeared as Track 4, on Side 1, of Iggy's 1979 album "New Values." I saw him in concert at least twice, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and at the Hollywood Palladium. He's everything that you've ever heard about him. I think some of his teeth were knocked out at the time. So fun.