Evelyn Taft's Weekend Weather Forecast

It's sure been nice. The sun's been making it out from behind the clouds and it's been comfortably warm.

Here's the lovely Ms. Evelyn, for KCAL News Channel 9:

Scarlett Johansson Busts Out Cleavage for Avengers Flashback Friday

She's still got it, dang!

At Popoholic:

Scarlett Johansson Bust Out Her Ginormous Cleavage For Avengers Flashback Friday, Woohoo! https://t.co/PpvaW2NZ4v #AvengersInfinityWar #BlackWidow #FBF pic.twitter.com/mPhjlquZ48

— Popoholic (@Popoholic) April 27, 2018

Trump Administration Set to Collide with California Over Automobile Fuel Emissions Standards

Hey, I love it.

California's ridiculously out of line with its global warming agenda. The pushback is long in coming and much needed.

At LAT, "Trump and California are set to collide head-on over fuel standards":

BREAKING: Trump admin plan would revoke California's authority to set fuel economy rules, and freeze 2020 mileage targets in place nationwide for six years. https://t.co/Qc2l9dvaXE

— Evan Halper (@evanhalper) April 27, 2018

The Trump administration is speeding toward all-out war with California over fuel economy rules for cars and SUVs, proposing to revoke the state's long-standing authority to enforce its own, tough rules on tailpipe emissions.

The move forms a key part of a proposal by Trump's environmental and transportation agencies to roll back the nation's fuel economy standards. The agencies plan to submit the proposal to the White House for review within days.

The plan would freeze fuel economy targets at the levels required for vehicles sold in 2020, and leave those in place through 2026, according to federal officials who have reviewed it. That would mark a dramatic retreat from existing law, which aimed to get the nation's fleet of cars and light trucks to an average fuel economy of 55 miles per gallon by 2025. Instead of average vehicle fuel economy ratcheting up to that level, it would stall out at 42 miles per gallon.

That would constitute the single biggest step the administration has taken to undermine efforts to combat climate change.

Cars and trucks recently surpassed electricity plants as America's biggest sources of the greenhouse gases that drive global warming. And unlike the electricity industry, in which market forces have pushed utilities toward cleaner energy, including natural gas and renewable sources, relatively low gasoline prices in recent years have led consumers to pay less attention to fuel economy when they buy new cars.

As a result, the steady increase in fuel mileage standards championed by the Obama administration in partnership with California represented the most powerful action the U.S. has taken to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The biggest gains have been projected to happen in the years that the Trump administration's plan would target.

The plan from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration remains a draft, and White House officials could decide to back away from a direct fight with California and like-minded states.

Within the administration, officials have disagreed about how far and how quickly to push changes in fuel economy rules, according to officials familiar with the discussions. Some officials attuned to the concerns of the auto industry have warned against a proposal that over-reaches and could lead to years of litigation and uncertainty. Others, aligned with EPA chief Scott Pruitt, have argued for a more aggressive push.

EPA spokesperson Liz Bowman declined to comment on the details of the draft plan.

"The Agency is continuing to work with NHTSA to develop a joint proposed rule and is looking forward to the interagency process," she wrote in an email.

Environmental groups and California officials already have vowed to fight the administration in court. But if the EPA plan prevails, it would be a crippling blow to efforts in California and other states to meet aggressive goals for climate action as well as for cleaning their air.

"I find this to be an outrageous intrusion," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in an email.

Salena Zito and Brad Todd, The Great Revolt

*BUMPED.*

This one's out May 8th. I can't wait to read it.

At Amazon, Salena Zito and Brad Todd, The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics.

Alfie Evan's Miraculous Life

From Sohrab Ahmari, at Commentary, "A Miracle in Liverpool":

Alfie Evans's miraculous life bears witness against Europe's barbarous culture of death. My take. https://t.co/Ze5y4KyJ6O

— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) April 24, 2018

Alfie Evans was supposed to die. On Monday evening, doctors at Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool, England, removed the 23-month-old toddler’s respirator following an effective death sentence handed down by Britain’s High Court of Justice. The court ruled that “continued ventilatory support is no longer in Alfie’s best interest” and prohibited his parents from flying their baby to Rome’s Bambino Gesù hospital for additional treatment at the Italian government’s expense. An international outcry led by Pope Francis failed to move British authorities.

In his decision, Justice Anthony Hayden of the High Court predicted that, owing to a little-understood and rapidly progressing brain condition, “Alfie can not sustain his life on his own. It is the ventilator that has been keeping him alive for many months, he is unable to sustain his own respiratory effort.” Some 30 police officers were posted outside the hospital to prevent Alfie’s supporters from attempting to rescue him overnight, and his parents were barred from supplying their own oxygen.

The most mother and father could offer their son was skin-to-skin contact—and love. He was, as I say, supposed to die. But he didn’t. Alfie continued to breathe independently for five, ten, fifteen hours. As I write, he has been going strong for more than 21 hours. Under moral pressure, the hospital finally relented and offered some oxygen and fluids on Tuesday morning. Yet the fluids were subsequently withdrawn, a source familiar with the situation tells me.

The Italian government granted Alfie citizenship on Monday, and the following day Italian diplomats sought to evacuate him by military air ambulance from his death chamber at Alder Hey. That final legal hope was dashed Tuesday evening, after the court dismissed the Italian appeal. It is unlikely that Alfie will survive for much longer. Even so, what has transpired in Alfie’s room—between Alfie and his parents, Tom and Kate—is nothing short of a miracle of love. It is also a rebuke to the callous judges and experts who would substitute their own judgement for that of parents in matters of life and death.

The medical complexities of the case, played up by the court and its defenders, serve to obscure this basic moral principle. No one is asking the U.K. National Health Service to expend extraordinary resources to keep Alfie alive. All Alfie’s parents ask is to be allowed to seek treatment elsewhere—again, at Italian expense—even if such treatment proves to be futile in the end. The same principle was at stake in last year’s Charlie Gard case. Once more, British courts have distorted the relevant legal standard—“the best interests of the child”—to usurp parents’ natural rights.

Laws that were enacted to give children a voice when parents were divided, or to protect children against neglectful or abusive parents, are now being used against parents who are united and determined to keep their children alive. As London-based canon lawyer Ed Condon wrote recently in the Catholic Herald, U.K. courts have broadened the relevant statutes “to include disagreements between unified parents and other authorities, be they educational, medical, or governmental.”

Nor is it possible to rule out the baleful influence of the European culture of death in Alfie’s case. It is true that the hospital is not proactively terminating Alfie’s life. Even so, Justice Hayden’s decision is full of references to dying with “dignity,” a favorite euphemism of the euthanasia movement...

The Nation's Broken Probation System

This is a good piece. I'm not 100 percent convinced the probation system is "broken," but she's got a lot of excellent examples to show its flaws.

From Nila Bala, at USA Today, "Meek Mill is exhibit A of nation's broken probation system."

Meek Mill’s story demonstrates the often excessive nature of probation in America, @nilabala3 writes via @usatodayopinion: https://t.co/54bxmeJsFB

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 25, 2018

Maggie Haberman Responds to President Trump's Twitter Attack (VIDEO)

I actually like Maggie Haberman. Sure, she's a leftist but I find her well grounded in facts most of the time, and I don't think she has an agenda compared to a lot of other media folks.

In any case, FWIW, at CNN:

Tomi Lahren Calls Out John Legend for Fomenting the War on Cops (VIDEO)

Ms. Tomi's a hot chick, and a firebrand of an analyst. Sure, she's pretty much a bitch, but easy to look at, in any case.

At Fox News. The John Legend comments come toward the last part of the clip:

Robin Holzken Life of the Party (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Danielle Gersh's Wednesday Weather Forecast

She's such a sweetie.

It's been mild, basically overcast weather the past few days. Not too bad, actually.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Jessica Simpson in New York City (PHOTOS)

She's still one of my all time faves.

At Egotastic!, "Jessica Simpson Busty in NYC."

And on Twitter:

Day To Night #GUCCI pic.twitter.com/rRuKeBdvfT

— Jessica Simpson (@JessicaSimpson) April 24, 2018

Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations.

Democrats' Long March Into Irrelevance (VIDEO)

It's Laura Ingraham:

Syracuse Fraternity Suspended for Racist Video

I gotta say, these guys are not only racist, they're stupid.

Who'd think this was funny? And who'd think that this wouldn't go viral in an outrageous frenzy of SJW vituperation?

Syracuse University's Theta Tau fraternity suspended over ‘extremely racist’ and 'homophobic' video. https://t.co/hD5URz2zb6 pic.twitter.com/l38Njcp6tj

— ABC News (@ABC) April 19, 2018

Syracuse University suspended its chapter of Theta Tau after a video of an initiation ceremony showed members spewing hate speech. pic.twitter.com/rIpMtNdVsq

— HuffPost (@HuffPost) April 20, 2018

Shania Twain Apologizes After Saying She'd Have Voted for President Trump

She thought he was an honest guy, and that was more important that his politically incorrect comments, etc.

But oops!

The fanatical SJWs weren't having any of it!

At Twitchy, "‘Another scalp’: Shania Twain APOLOGIZES after lefty outrage mob attack."

Click through at the link. She posted a four-tweet apology.

'Another scalp': Shania Twain APOLOGIZES after lefty outrage mob attack https://t.co/oEQtACRH7k

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 23, 2018

Despite Raids and Tariffs, California Farmers Still Back Trump

Well, it's the Central Valley. You'd think they'd still back Trump, over the diabolical Democrats. Sheesh.

At LAT, "Raids and tariffs? We'll take our lumps, say California farmers":

“You know what? The Cold War affected us, too, It’s not going to be free to win this war, but it may be worth it."--CA farmer https://t.co/i4HB6qgfuu

— Virginia Dare (@vdare) April 22, 2018

You might assume walnut grower Mike Poindexter would be regretting his vote for Donald Trump.

Since the inauguration, immigration officials have raided his Selma, Calif., office and China has slapped tariffs on his walnuts to retaliate against President Trump’s protection of steel, aluminum and manufacturing.

But you’d be dead wrong. Like many other farmers in the rural and conservative San Joaquin Valley, Poindexter, 46, is holding as steadfast as his trees.

“It’s not about sticking through thick and thin,” he said. “What is our other option? In California, they’re not willing to back [Sen. Dianne] Feinstein because she’s not liberal enough. They don’t have anyone who’s palatable to us.”

So, if Trump thinks a trade war will improve the market for U.S. goods, so be it, Poindexter figures. “You know what? The Cold War affected us, too,” he said. “It’s not going to be free to win this war, but it may be worth it. I don’t think you’ll have farmers go out and vote for Democrats over tariffs.”

Poindexter’s stoicism echoes across the farms of the San Joaquin Valley, where rural and suburban voters strongly supported Trump and where they regularly send Republicans to the House of Representatives. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield is in his sixth term, and fellow Republican Devin Nunes, farther north in Tulare, is in his seventh.

“If I’ve gotta take a few bullets getting caught up in the cross-fire, but after four years or eight years — however long he spends in office — we’re on a better trajectory as a country, then it’s all parred up,” said Matt Fisher, a fourth-generation citrus grower in Arvin, near Bakersfield. “I did my part, so to speak.”

Jeff Bortolussi grows half a dozen fruit crops at the eastern edge of Kingsburg, where he contributed to his precinct’s 70% tally for Trump.

He lives in the house where he grew up, and eagerly invites a visitor on a driving tour around a mile-square box of country roads to show off the spring crop: peaches and nectarines the size of a baby’s fist, almond and walnuts still too small to see, reedy blueberry bushes, leafy grape vines and trees pregnant with apples, pomegranates, clementines, persimmons and figs.

It’s that kind of diversity — California grows more than 200 crops — that could soften the impact of tariffs on the state. And it’s what differentiates California’s $45-billion agriculture industry from frustrated farmers in the Midwest, who heavily depend on a soy crop that faces tariffs of 25%. (A tariff raises the price for Chinese importers, making the U.S. crop less competitive.)

Bortolussi is as patient about politics as he is with his crops.

“A lot of this stuff needs to play out,” he said. “I think a lot of it is posturing, and his way of communicating, his ‘art of the deal.’ We really don’t know what’s going on.”

Even almonds, California’s second-largest agricultural export to China, may not suffer from tariffs as much as first thought, Bortolussi says. “The almond crop this year is going to be a little off, because it got a little freeze,” he said. “So, if the tariffs are going to affect almonds, this may be the year when it will have less effect.”

Last year, California sold $1.1 billion worth of nuts — almonds, walnuts and pistachios — to China, its third-largest foreign customer, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture. China also bought more than $240 million in fresh citrus and table grapes from California in 2016, according to the department's data...

More.

Don't Feel Guilty About Plastic in the Oceans

This was the best op-ed I've read in a long time.

From David Mastio, at USA Today, "On Earth Day, you shouldn't feel guilty about your plastic trash."

My latest — On Earth Day, you shouldn't feel guilty about your plastic trash https://t.co/EmVTAkSCYW via @usatodayopinion

— David Mastio (@DavidMastio) April 20, 2018

Bryan Caplan, The Case Against Education

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Bryan Caplan, The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money.

Dennis Prager, The Rational Bible

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Dennis Prager, The Rational Bible: Exodus.

Alexis Ren Wears Nothing But Flowers (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: