Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters Crowned Miss Universe 2017

She's a beauty.

At USA Today:

#MissSouthAfrica Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters is crowned #MissUniverse 2017 https://t.co/khfcCxIdp4

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 27, 2017

Congratulations to Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, the winner of the 2017 #MissUniverse competition! pic.twitter.com/JYuQYc3Lvo

— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) November 27, 2017

The face you make just before you take the @MissUniverse stage.

RT if you're tuning in to watch #MissUniverse on @vuzutv tomorrow morning? #SouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/WffMU2bMJ7

— Demi-LeighNel-Peters (@DemiLeighNP) November 26, 2017

Top 5.🇿🇦 #MisssUniverse #SouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/2XpflbDdso

— Demi-LeighNel-Peters (@DemiLeighNP) November 27, 2017

In Greenwich and Manhattan, Tax-Hike Fears Fuel Talk of Exodus

The poor, wealthy babies --- and all Democrats too. I feel terrible for them. (*Eye-roll*)

At Bloomberg, "Tax-Hike Fears Trigger Talk of Exodus From Manhattan and Greenwich":

Fears of a tax hike are fueling talk of an exodus in Greenwich and Manhattan https://t.co/EI8reC8OBj pic.twitter.com/IFp50a7VLB

— Bloomberg (@business) November 27, 2017

Even Bruce McGuire, founder of the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association, understands if wealthy Northeasterners flee the region due to changes in the tax code.

“It would almost be irresponsible if you weren’t thinking about moving,” he said.

The problem for the Connecticut hedge-fund set -- and, more broadly, for a lot of the Wall Street crowd -- is that Republican proposals in both the House and Senate would drive up taxes for many high-earners in the New York City area. By eliminating the deduction for most state and local taxes, an individual making a yearly salary of $1,000,000 -- a figure not uncommon in the financial industry -- would owe the Internal Revenue Service an additional $21,000, according to a preliminary analysis by accounting firm Marcum LLP.

Billionaire hedge fund managers have blazed the trail south in recent years. David Tepper, Paul Tudor Jones and Eddie Lampert are New York-area transplants to Florida, which has no personal income tax.

A final bill could still do away with the hike, but so far there are no signs coming out of Washington that will happen. Financially struggling New Jersey had the sixth-highest individual income rate this year, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators. New York ranked eighth and cash-strapped Connecticut 12th. Nine of the 10 states with the highest individual taxes, including Washington, D.C., voted Democratic in the 2016 presidential election.

Tax Refugees

No one interviewed for this story would talk openly about making plans to move, but Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is estimating that New York City alone could lose as much as 4 percent of its top earners if the bill becomes law. In Florida, where there’s no state income tax, there’s the sense that this is a great opportunity to lure disgruntled tax refugees.

The Miami Downtown Development Authority is throwing a party next month during the annual Art Basel show, and Nitin Motwani, a real estate developer, has invited wealthy Northeasterners who’ve expressed interest in moving to the area. Because the proposed tax changes are practically begging them to relocate, Motwani expects a crowd.

State and local taxes, also called SALT, “can and should be a major catalyst,” said Motwani, a development authority board member. Tax reform will “certainly be something we’re highlighting” at the party, in the Perez Art Museum. “Inertia is a tough thing, but you add on another tax bill and maybe that pushes you over the edge.”

Jennifer Delacruz's Cooler Sunday Forecast

She's so amazing. I could watch her weather forecasts all day.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

Best-Selling Deals

*BUMPED.*

Okay folks, thanks for shopping my Amazon links for the holidays. I really appreciate it!

More, Today's Deals.

And, a best-seller, Philips Hue White Smart Bulb Starter Kit (4 A19 Bulbs and 1 Bridge, Compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Assistant).

Also, Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd Generation, Stainless Steel, Works with Amazon Alexa.

Plus, Ring Wi-Fi Enabled Video Doorbell in Satin Nickel.

More, Bluetooth Headphones, VAVA MOOV 28 Wireless Sports Earphones in Ear Earbuds with 8 Hours Playtime (IPX5 Splashproof, aptX Stereo, Magnetic Aluminum Design, Noise Cancelling Mic).

Here, Roku Streaming Stick+ | 4K/HDR/HD streaming player with 4x the wireless range & voice remote with TV power and volume (2017).

Still more, TP-Link Smart Plug, No Hub Required, Wi-Fi, Control your Devices from Anywhere, Works with Alexa and Google Assistant (HS100).

BONUS: Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings.

ICYMI: George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo

At Amazon, George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo.

Kendall Jenner Tops the List as the Highest Paid Model in 2017

At Forbes:

Announcing the world's highest-paid models of 2017:

1. Kendall Jenner
2. Gisele Bundchen
3. Chrissy Teigenhttps://t.co/hgRXVPBCez pic.twitter.com/1fBqmsEV3E

— Forbes (@Forbes) November 21, 2017

Kendall Jenner Nips in See Through White Top - https://t.co/nq6XcTDOM9 - pic.twitter.com/x6i7AXd2TN

— Taxi Driver (@TaxiDriverMovie) November 22, 2017

Gail Z. Martin, The Summoner

I'm on a fantasy posting jag, lol.

Here's more, at Amazon, Gail Z. Martin, The Summoner (Chronicles of the Necromancer, Book 1).

Vita Sidorkina

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

😎 https://t.co/7EbO1kouSe pic.twitter.com/69ngKMGIEV

— SI Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) November 25, 2017

Tori Praver Topless (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Raica Oliveira Keeping Things Simple (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Nancy Pelosi Defends John Conyers on Meet the Press (VIDEO)

Folks were tweeting about this like crazy.

Pelosi defends Conyers as 'an icon' https://t.co/uZwWdV3uXr via @kelseytam pic.twitter.com/HnCq8STgPH

— POLITICO (@politico) November 26, 2017

Zero tolerance for alleged sexual predation ... unless you've done good things in your life and you're in the right partyhttps://t.co/hh59Z8Y9xO

— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) November 26, 2017

.@NancyPelosi: Accused Congressman Conyers is an "icon" in our country. #MTP pic.twitter.com/4QlKKJTIJP

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 26, 2017

Nancy Pelosi: John Conyers is "an icon in our country" and "deserves due process."

Also Nancy Pelosi: Roy Moore is a "child molester!" https://t.co/B4KWvJXJ9q

— Nick Short 🇺🇸 (@PoliticalShort) November 26, 2017

Hard for Ds to claim moral high ground on sexual harassment when they respond like this to one of their own https://t.co/VIbTihKOoF

— amy walter (@amyewalter) November 26, 2017

Nancy Pelosi on MTP was pathetic and partisan regarding sexual harassment/assault.

— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) November 26, 2017

#NancyPelosi proves that this so-called “accountability” moment we’re having, on sexual assault and harassment, is completely partisan. #MeetThePress

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 26, 2017

Cyber Monday is Going to be Yuge!

Lol.

Online shopping has really taken off. I love it, heh.

At USA Today:

Cyber Monday is forecast to be huge. The reason: can't shake a shopping habit https://t.co/YS8sDmqLKS

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 26, 2017

Stephen Kotkin, Stalin

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Stephen Kotkin, Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941.

Radicalism on the Rise in American Politics

From Joel Kotkin, at the Orange County Register:

The Republican Party’s road to the 2018 mid-terms looks increasingly like Pickett’s Charge, the Confederate assault on fixed Union positions that marked the high-water mark for the southern cause. After achieving its greatest domination of elective office in 80 years, the GOP seems likely to get slaughtered.

As at Gettysburg, bad generalship, an unpopular, clumsy Donald Trump, constitutes one cause for the imminent Republican decline. But the officer corps is also failing, as the congressional delegation seems determined to screw its middle class base in favor the remnant of those corporate plutocrats who finance their campaigns and the Goldman Sachs crowd to whom Trump has outsourced his economic policy. Steve Bannon’s support for demagogues like Roy Moore can only further weaken the party’s appeal, rapidly turning much of the business community, out of sheer embarrassment, into de facto Democrats.

Only one thing can save the Republicans from themselves: the Democrats. Although they have shown remarkable unity as part of the anti-Trump resistance, the Democrats themselves suffer deep-seated divisions. Most critically they are moving left at a time when more voters seek something more in the middle. Certainly this progressive tilt has done little to reverse their own declining popularity; public approval of the party has sunk to the lowest levels in a quarter century.

The rise of the radical base

“Who the goods wish to destroy, they first drive mad.” Today this old Greek adage seems particularly applicable to the Democrats. In the past the party produced leaders, and endorsed positions, that appealed across a broad swath of the population. With the Republicans forced to defend Trump, and ally with the marginalized far-right, a more centrist approach seems almost guaranteed to create success, as we saw recently in the Virginia elections.

But, sadly, the much heralded “resistance” to Trump has radicalized the party’s grassroots, giving enhanced power to militant groups like Black Lives Matter, as well as the most extreme green and gender fundamentalists. Clustered increasingly in large urban centers, Democrats are moving more quickly to progressive extremes than the GOP is shifting to the right; the percentage of Democratic voters tilting left since 1994 has grown from 30 percent to 73 percent. Moderates in the party, argues Wall Street investor Steven Ratner, face a “freight train coming at us from the left.”

The centrist approach used in Virginia should show the way, and succeeded largely by winning moderate voters from the affluent D.C. suburbs. But in California or New York rank and file, suburban Democrats have little voice against the organized and strident habitués of the core cities. The various cultural imperatives of the media, the universities, the progressive non-profit and well-funded community groups wash out all other voices.

Positions that threaten a Democratic resurgence

Three critical positions threaten a national Democratic resurgence. The first, and the most divisive, is immigration policy. Most Americans do not embrace the xenophobia of the Trump base, but they also do not favor such things as sanctuary cities, even here in California. They are not likely to celebrate immigrant law-breaking as does state Senate Leader Kevin de León, now challenging the more centrist Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s bid for re-election.

The second vulnerability revolves around a strong move to a single-payer federal system, a position endorsed by increasingly powerful groups like the Democratic Socialists of America and New York’s Working Families Party. To be sure, this may be more attractive to most Americans than GOP attempts to scuttle the current Obamacare system, but it would require a massive tax increase that would alienate moderate, middle-income voters. A plan to impose this system on California was deemed so expensive — essentially more than doubling the state budget — that Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon had to table it to the chagrin of the progressive lobby.

The third, and perhaps most critical, policy area relates more broadly to culture. Just as the antediluvian stances of a Roy Moore may make middle-of-the-road voters gag, many Americans also would have a hard time embracing such things as reparations, race and gender quotas, transgender issues, campus speech codes and even football protests celebrated by progressives. This aversion to identity politics appears particularly true for the middle American voters who swung in 2016 to Trump and the GOP.

We live in interesting times, that's for sure.

Still more.

Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

More of the best fantasy, at Amazon, Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear.

Black Friday Mayhem

Following-up, "Black Friday Crowds Not So Bad, As Online Shopping Attracts More Holiday Consumers."

Turns out there was some of the usual mayhem this year, although not as bad as in the past. People still getting crazy out there.

At London's Daily Mail:

Black Friday mayhem: One shot outside Missouri mall as brawls close Alabama shopping center https://t.co/ksMNqiknfW pic.twitter.com/tZZE6lWHoy

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) November 24, 2017

Black Friday Crowds Not So Bad, As Online Shopping Attracts More Holiday Consumers

Well, I picked up my toaster yesterday, and the line was around the store at my local Kohl's (below). Turns out that was mostly shoppers hunting down the "doorbuster" deals. I went back a little later and it wasn't so bad.

In any case, at LAT, "Black Friday mayhem may be a thing of the past":

The line at Kohl’s in Irvine. All the way to the back of the store. *SMH* #BlackFriday pic.twitter.com/3VqHSnxyOp

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 24, 2017

Chae Woong Bae and his girlfriend had steeled themselves to brave the Black Friday shopping chaos they’d watched on TV back home in South Korea.

But when the pair arrived at 4:30 a.m. Friday at a Target in North Hollywood for their first Black Friday outing, they were the only ones in line. No one else joined the queue for an hour, ahead of the store's opening at 6 a.m.

"On the TV, we see people fighting each other, so at first, we were a little scared to come today," said a disappointed Bae, 22. "I didn't expect it to be so quiet."

Once known for frenzied crowds that jostled for deals in packed stores, Black Friday in Southern California has become a more subdued scene. The rise of e-commerce has made savings available to anyone, anywhere — at any time.

To compete with online sellers, and each other, brick-and-mortar retailers have pushed discounts days and even weeks before the day once considered the critical barometer of the holiday shopping season.

The result: Consumers said stores and malls were less packed and more relaxed. It was a welcome change for some.

"If I had walked in and there was a massive crowd, I would have walked right out," said Amanda Solomon, 25, as she shopped with her mother at the Macy's at Westfield Century City mall.

"It wouldn't be worth the savings," her mother, Irene Castaldo, 63, chimed in.

National retail chains that open on Thanksgiving have largely moved doorbuster deals to Thursday night, making Black Friday a calmer shopping experience.

To get the same type of crowd "you've got to have the same type of early-bird specials on Friday as Thursday," said Britt Beemer, chairman and founder of America's Research Group, who has tracked holiday sales trends for 30 years. "And nobody does that."

Though stores may not seem as busy on Black Friday as in years past, analysts expect holiday retail sales to jump in 2017, a result of higher consumer confidence and gains in employment and disposable income.

The National Retail Federation predicts that retail sales in November and December could total between $678.75 billion and $682 billion, up from $655.8 billion last year.

Meghan O'Sullivan, Windfall

This looks awesome!

At Amazon, Meghan O'Sullivan, Windfall: How the New Energy Abundance Upends Global Politics and Strengthens America’s Power.

Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time, Boxed Set

Great for under the Christmas tree.

At Amazon, Robert Jordan, "The Wheel of Time," Boxed Set I, Books 1-3: The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, The Dragon Reborn.

Also, "The Wheel of Time," Boxed Set II, Books 4-6: The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, Lord of Chaos.

Jennifer Delacruz's Cyber Saturday Forecast

It's the big shopping weekend --- tomorrow's "Cyber Saturday." I'll be hanging out, working on my car, shopping for books and stuff, and otherwise dawdling around.

More later.

Here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer, for ABC News 10 San Diego: