French Fashion Model Chloé Nicolas

At Editorials Fashion Trends, "Chloé Nicolas by Guillaume Gaubert."

She's on Instagram.

Dana Loesch: The U.S. Keeps Winning Under Trump Administration's Foreign Policy (VIDEO)

This is great. It's all great. Democrats are not great, of course, and they're hating it.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 'Rookie of the Year' Alexis Ren (VIDEO)

She's amazing.

Did the F.B.I. Spy on Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign?

From the inimitable Kim Strassel, at WSJ, "About That FBI ‘Source’: Did the bureau engage in outright spying against the 2016 Trump campaign?":

The Department of Justice lost its latest battle with Congress Thursday when it agreed to brief House Intelligence Committee members about a top-secret intelligence source that was part of the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign. Even without official confirmation of that source’s name, the news so far holds some stunning implications.

Among them is that the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation outright hid critical information from a congressional investigation. In a Thursday press conference, Speaker Paul Ryan bluntly noted that Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes’s request for details on this secret source was “wholly appropriate,” “completely within the scope” of the committee’s long-running FBI investigation, and “something that probably should have been answered a while ago.” Translation: The department knew full well it should have turned this material over to congressional investigators last year, but instead deliberately concealed it.

House investigators nonetheless sniffed out a name, and Mr. Nunes in recent weeks issued a letter and a subpoena demanding more details. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s response was to double down—accusing the House of “extortion” and delivering a speech in which he claimed that “declining to open the FBI’s files to review” is a constitutional “duty.” Justice asked the White House to back its stonewall. And it even began spinning that daddy of all superspook arguments—that revealing any detail about this particular asset could result in “loss of human lives.”

This is desperation, and it strongly suggests that whatever is in these files is going to prove very uncomfortable to the FBI.

The bureau already has some explaining to do. Thanks to the Washington Post’s unnamed law-enforcement leakers, we know Mr. Nunes’s request deals with a “top secret intelligence source” of the FBI and CIA, who is a U.S. citizen and who was involved in the Russia collusion probe. When government agencies refer to sources, they mean people who appear to be average citizens but use their profession or contacts to spy for the agency. Ergo, we might take this to mean that the FBI secretly had a person on the payroll who used his or her non-FBI credentials to interact in some capacity with the Trump campaign.

This would amount to spying, and it is hugely disconcerting. It would also be a major escalation from the electronic surveillance we already knew about, which was bad enough. Obama political appointees rampantly “unmasked” Trump campaign officials to monitor their conversations, while the FBI played dirty with its surveillance warrant against Carter Page, failing to tell the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that its supporting information came from the Hillary Clinton campaign. Now we find it may have also been rolling out human intelligence, John Le Carré style, to infiltrate the Trump campaign...

More.

And at Instapundit, "WALL STREET JOURNAL: About That FBI ‘Source:’ Did the Bureau engage in outright spying against the 2016 Trump campaign?":

I don’t think the FBI is being straight. I’m speculating, of course, but I think it’s going to turn out that they were spying on Trump from surprisingly early on, and that they didn’t expect him to win, and that when he did win, the Russian “collusion” thing was hyped up as a smokescreen.

Keep reading.

ICYMI: Salena Zito and Brad Todd, The Great Revolt

*BUMPED.*

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

AnnaLynne McCord on Twitter

Here's the headline at Drunken Stepfather, "ANNA LYNNE MCCORD PUSSY PRINT OF THE DAY."

And on Twitter:

“Every 🌹 has its thorns...” pic.twitter.com/KV7NGkw8i5

— AnnaLynne McCord (@IAMannalynnemcc) May 11, 2018

Blake Lively Out for Coffee in New York City

At the Nip Slip, "Blake Lively Braless While Getting Coffee!"

Stunning Diana Georgie

At Maxim:

"To have breakfast in bed and not have to put pants on all day." https://t.co/KXvm5JZOxj

— Maxim (@MaximMag) May 4, 2018

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature Cancelled Amid Sexual Assault Scandal

At Foreign Policy, "The Nobel Scandal Has Become a Swedish Foreign-Policy Crisis":

Spoke to @ForeignPolicy about the crisis in the Swedish Academy and for the Nobel Prize in literature, which will not be awarded this year.

A white, male-dominated, elite institution getting its comeuppance, according to the standard narrative.https://t.co/j3s6abtPkf

— Paulina Neuding (@paulinaneuding) May 10, 2018

STOCKHOLM — The crisis in the Swedish Academy, which started last November with sexual assault allegations against the husband of an Academy member and culminated last Friday in the cancellation of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, has been described in Swedish media as “the cultural conflict of the century.” But some Swedes are concerned that it may be more than that — namely, a national diplomatic crisis.

As the scandal deepened over the past few weeks, Swedish policymakers have fretted about how it might affect one of the pillars of the country’s international policy: its positive and progressive reputation. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has already admitted to the national media that the Nobel affair has had diplomatic consequences. “This is absolutely not good for [Sweden’s] reputation,” he said last week. “That’s why it’s so important that the Academy now relentlessly continues to work to restore confidence.”

The Nobel scandal has amplified an existing theme of the national debate in the run-up to Sweden’s September general election: Sverigebilden, which translates as “the image of Sweden,” but normally implies a positive image. Lofven and his Social Democrat-led government had already been emphasizing the need to cultivate Sverigebilden, and it has been the subject of numerous op-eds and TV and radio debates in recent months.

Sverigebilden might seem like a superficial aspect of politics, but the Swedish government has made it anything but. Paulina Neuding, editor in chief of the Swedish online magazine Kvartal, describes it as a form of “domestic foreign policy.” On the one hand, communication around Sverigebilden is part of Sweden’s so-called nation branding, which is directed at outsiders, including the tourists and investors who support the Swedish economy. On the other hand, it’s also about shaping the conversation and media reporting about Sweden at home. As negative images of Sweden spread abroad following the 2015 refugee crisis, and the apparent challenges the country was having integrating its new arrivals, the Swedish government made it a priority to engage in what Neuding refers to as “image management” aimed at foreign audiences.

Neuding cites a fact sheet in English published in February last year on the government’s website in response to the dissemination of what it called sometimes “simplistic and occasionally inaccurate information about Sweden and Swedish migration policy.” Around the same time, the Swedish Institute — a public agency that promotes Sweden around the world — launched a social media campaign, using the hashtag #factcheck. The Swedish Institute posted videos on Sweden.se — “Sweden’s official account on Twitter” — contesting claims that Swedish police had lost control over the country’s immigrant-dense suburbs, that Sweden is the “rape capital of the world,” and that the Swedish system had collapsed after the country took in a record number of migrants in 2015.

“Sweden’s strong consensus culture has meant that the government’s narrative has been supported by the political opposition as well as by much of Swedish media and other sections of the establishment,” Neuding adds. The struggle over Sverigebilden has thus revealed its dark side. Anyone who attempts to highlight shortcomings of Swedish domestic policy is easily deemed unpatriotic and risks ending up ostracized. “Your name gets associated with ‘illegitimate opinions’ by polite society,” Neuding says.

The crisis in the Swedish Academy, however, has been an exception. The government has put the blame on the Academy for tarnishing its own, and by extension the country’s, reputation, rather than on the Swedish media reporting on the scandal. Swedish news outlets, for their part, have even been translating their reporting to English in hopes of getting cited in the international press. Swedes are also discussing the question of how the scandal affects the country’s image, but that hasn’t been treated as a reason not to report on the affair.

Neuding believes that’s because the Swedish Academy crisis is generally perceived as being about an elite, male-dominated institution getting its comeuppance over allegations of sexual abuse and financial crimes — which is entirely consistent with an image of Sweden that many progressive Swedes, who already viewed their country’s elite institutions as potentially tyrannous patriarchies, are comfortable with. (The Swedish Academy is a private arts institution — a rare thing in Sweden, where much of the art world relies on state funding — founded in 1786 by King Gustaf III to advance the Swedish language and literature; since 1901, it has awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.) In that view, it’s the Swedish Academy itself that’s the threat to Sverigebilden, not the critical reporting about it.

Some Swedes see the whole affair as an opportunity...

More.

Actress Patricia Contreras at Cannes 2018 Film Festival

At Drunken Stepfather, "Patricia Contreras Nip Slip of the Day."

Hailey Clauson Tries Out Roller Skating During Her Photo Shoot in the Bahamas (VIDEO)

She's an adorable sweetie.

Robert Service, The Last of the Tsars

At Amazon, Robert Service, The Last of the Tsars: Nicholas II and the Russia Revolution.

Lindsay Shepherd Bids Goodbye to the Left (VIDEO)

She's a good lady.

I don't think riding public transportation because you don't have a car automatically puts on on the left, but other than that, this is a very thoughtful vlog.

Danielle Gersh's Warm Weather Forecast

It's going to be a beautiful day.

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

Today's Deals

At Amazon, Gold Box Deals.

And especially, 1000 Thread Count Egyptian Cotton Sheets Queen 4 Piece Sheet Set White Solid.

More, Kaufman Sales 4 Pc Pack Stripe Beach Towel by Ben Kaufman Sales.

And, Riedel SST (SEE, SMELL, TASTE) Pinot Noir Wine Glass, Set of 2.

Here, Yamaha RX-V383BL 5.1-Channel 4K Ultra HD AV Receiver with Bluetooth.

More here, BLACK+DECKER 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker, Black, CM1160B.

Plus, Koffee Kult Dark Roast Coffee Beans - Highest Quality Gourmet - Whole Bean Coffee - Fresh Roasted Coffee Beans, 32oz.

BONUS: Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train.

'Feminist' Men

There's really no such thing as "feminist" men, as feminism's an ideology out to destroy the male patriarchy. No man can escape condemnation.

In any case, it's Jill Filipovic, at NYT:

Democrat Party 2018: NO HETEROSEXUAL WHITE MALES ALLOWED! https://t.co/ySM9onWhZ0 pic.twitter.com/SsWqMCi1nd

— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) May 9, 2018

Demi Lovato of the Day

At Drunken Stepfather, "DEMI LOVATO TITS OF THE DAY."

The Intellectual Dark Web

An excellent piece, from Bari Weiss.

Read the whole thing.

An alliance of heretics is making an end run around the mainstream -- and finding enormous new audiences thirsty to discuss subjects that have become taboo. Meet the Intellectual Dark Web: https://t.co/iveK9LoXPd

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) May 8, 2018

Vita Sidorkina in Bikini Swim Adventure (VIDEO)

Jaw-dropping.

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Victor Sebestyen, Lenin

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Victor Sebestyen, Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror.