Friday, June 29, 2018

Capitol Gazette's Selene San Felice Drops F-Bomb During Interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN (VIDEO)

At Variety, "CNN Airs Uncensored F-Word During Interview With Annapolis Shooting Survivors."

She's bleeped on the YouTube upload, and on Twitter:




Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Victory Heralds a Hard-Left Shift in the Democrat Party? (VIDEO)

Actually, I don't think the woman's ideology was the biggest part of the story. The Democrats have been an openly socialist party for a long time now. The biggest thing is that the woman was a political newcomer and she knocked off not only the #4 top Democrat congressional leader, but that her opponent was a big wig old-line party boss in the Bronx-Queens political establishment. That's what's freaking people out. The new guard is coming after the old guard, and that includes Nancy Pelosi, who's jonesing on the speaker's gig again should the Dems take back the House in November.

The New York Times had a background piece on the woman, "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Emerges as a Political Star."


See the discussion at Fox Business at the video, and at the Los Angeles Times, "The surprise defeat of Rep. Joe Crowley may signal Democratic unease about Pelosi's leadership team":

The stunning primary defeat of New York Rep. Joseph Crowley, a 10-term incumbent once seen as a likely replacement for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is forcing Democrats to again address their inner divisions, including questions about who will lead them if they regain control of the House in 2018.

Grumbling about whether Pelosi and other long-serving Democratic leaders should step aside has been getting louder in recent years, with a surprising number of new Democratic candidates saying this year that they would not back the San Francisco Democrat for speaker.

The surprise loss by Crowley, the fourth-ranked Democrat in the House, pushes that debate front and center.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Latina activist running her first campaign, beat Crowley in Tuesday’s primary in New York's 14th Congressional District. She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and held strong appeal in a district made up mostly of ethnic minorities.

Election victories by a new generation of progressives like Ocasio-Cortez may increase the pressure on Pelosi and other Democratic leaders, especially if Democrats win control of the House by a small margin.

Among other things, these newcomers want Democratic leaders to more aggressively confront President Trump’s policies and openly embrace liberal priorities, like a single-payer healthcare system. And they are tired of being told to wait patiently — years or even decades --- for their turn at the leadership table.

“You’re going to have a lot of new members that are very independent, and I think they are going to be making good arguments for what kind of leadership they want to see,” Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said.

Crowley’s defeat drew comparisons to the surprise 2014 primary loss of then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican targeted by tea party advocates as being part of the GOP establishment. Cantor’s ouster triggered deep soul-searching inside the Republican Party and was followed the next year by the toppling of House Speaker John A. Boehner.

“I wouldn’t take anything for granted if I were in leadership now,” Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said. “I suspect there are going to be challenges to leadership, I don’t think there’s any question.”

Pelosi urged people not to read too much into the loss, saying Ocasio-Cortez was a good fit for a district that had become more progressive.

“Nobody’s district is representative of somebody else’s district," she said, adding that the outcome is “just a sign of [the] vitality of our party.”

Though Pelosi was easily elected as minority leader in 2016, she faced the largest number of defections in her career. It’s unlikely that members will outwardly jockey for position against the powerful leader, who has said she plans to become speaker again. But some would-be rivals are likely to begin lining up support behind the scenes to fill the leadership Crowley will vacate.

House Democratic Caucus Vice Chairwoman Linda T. Sanchez (D-Whittier), who is expected to make a bid to replace Crowley as caucus chair, made waves last fall when she said on C-SPAN that it’s time for new leadership in the party. It was a surprising statement from a member of leadership, especially one from California. Sanchez has been a less visible part of the leadership team since.

“I think that I would be a good caucus chair,” she said. “Having said that, I’m not making any announcements.”

Democrats are shocked and in disbelief about Crowley’s loss, Yarmuth said, and they aren’t quite ready to consider others for his role...
Still more.

Jarrod Warren Ramos

I was really busy with family errands yesterday, although between trips to the doctor and what not I was able to follow the story out of Annapolis, Maryland, on the horrific quintuple murders at the Capitol Gazette newspaper.

What always strike me a vicious and evil is the premature speculation on the shooter, and it's almost exclusively leftists who engage in it. The Daily Caller had a great early roundup:


Featured there is Lauren Duca, a nasty wench:



It turns out the shooter was Jarrod Warren Ramos, who was the subject of a Capital Gazette profile in about 2011. It turns out the suspect had harassed a woman he knew from high school, and after the newspaper covered his harassment as a news story he sued for defamation and lost. He held a vendetta against the newspaper ever since.

See the Other McCain for the full story.


Heather Mac Donald, The Diversity Delusion

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, available September 4th, Heather Mac Donald, The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture.



Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Today's Deals

At Amazon, Today's Deals New deals. Every day. Shop our Deal of the Day, Lightning Deals and more daily deals and limited-time sales.

And especially, Casper Sleep Mattress – Supportive, Breathable and Unique Memory Foam – Scientifically Engineered for your Best Sleep - Bed in a Box - Queen.

Also, Moen Arbor Motionsense Two-Sensor Touchless One-Handle High Arc Pulldown Kitchen Faucet Featuring Reflex, Spot Resist Stainless (7594ESRS).

More, HP Colorwheel 15.6" Notebook, HD Touchscreen, Intel N3710 Quad-Core, 4GB DDR3, 1TB SATA, Intel HD Graphics, 802.11ac, Win10H - Natural Silver (Certified Refurbished).

Here, Dash Chef Series 64 oz Blender with Stainless Steel Blades + Digital Display for Coffee Drinks, Frozen Cocktails, Smoothies, Soup, Fondue & More - White.

Still more, MOSSY OAK 14-inch Bowie Knife Wood Handle with Leather Sheath.

Plus, Buck Knives 110 Famous Folding Hunter Knife with Genuine Leather Sheath - TOP SELLER.

More here, CLIF BAR - Energy Bar - Blueberry Crisp - (2.4 Ounce Protein Bar, 12 Count).

BONUS: Ann Coulter, Resistance is Futile!  How the Trump-Hating Left Lost Its Collective Mind.

Michelle Malkin: The #AbolishICE Fringe Has Become the Mainstream of Democrat Party (VIDEO)

Yep.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the very far-left Democrat who shocked the establishment last night with her victory in New York's 14th congressional district. Abolishing ICE is bad enough, but this woman is the worst of the worst on Israel and the radical socialist agenda overall More on this hateful Democrat later.

Here's Michelle:



Megan Parry's Wednesday Weather

It's still mild and beautiful. Great hiking weather if you and to get out and active.

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



Made in Chelsea's Lucy Watson Bikini Shots

At London's Daily Mail, "Made in Chelsea's Lucy Watson flaunts her bronzed figure in a skimpy bikini as she joins sizzling sister Tiffany in Mykonos."

BONUS: "Made In Chelsea's Lucy Watson flaunts her gym-honed frame in a skimpy monochrome bikini as she soaks up the sun in Barcelona."

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Danielle Gersh's Sunshine Tuesday Forecast

It's a great day all around. Awesome SCOTUS rulings and great weather.

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



Supreme Court Upholds President Trump's Travel Ban

I'm positively giddy with today's decision out of SCOTUS.

I'm especially pleased because it's a huge defeat for the radical left.

At USA Today, "Supreme Court upholds President Trump's travel ban against majority-Muslim countries":
WASHINGTON — A deeply divided Supreme Court upheld President Trump's immigration travel ban against predominantly Muslim countries Tuesday as a legitimate exercise of executive branch authority.

The 5-4 ruling reverses a series of lower court decisions that had struck down the ban as Illegal or unconstitutional. It hands a major victory to Trump, who initiated the battle to ban travelers a week after assuming office last year. It was a defeat for Hawaii and other states that had challenged the action, as well as immigration rights groups.

Trump hailed the decision as vindicating his controversial immigration policies, after first tweeting seven simple words: "SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!"

"In this era of worldwide terrorism and extremist movements bent on harming innocent civilians, we must properly vet those coming into our country," the president said. "This ruling is also a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country."

The president had vowed to ban Muslims during the 2016 presidential campaign and continued his attacks on Twitter after his election. But the high court said those statements did not constitute evidence of religious discrimination.

Chief Justice John Roberts issued the opinion, supported by the court's other four conservatives — a majority that has held through a dozen 5-4 cases this term. He said the ban's restrictions are limited to countries previously designated by Congress or prior administrations as posing national security risks. And he noted that Trump's latest version followed a worldwide review process by several government agencies.

"The proclamation is squarely within the scope of presidential authority," the chief justice said. Claims of religious bias against Muslims do not hold up, he said, against "a sufficient national security justification."

However, Roberts said, "We express no view on the soundness of the policy." And Justice Anthony Kennedy, in a brief concurring opinion, referred obliquely to the potential relevance of Trump's statements about religion.

"There are numerous instances in which the statements and actions of government officials are not subject to judicial scrutiny or intervention," Kennedy wrote. "That does not mean those officials are free to disregard the Constitution and the rights it proclaims and protects."

The court's four liberal justices dissented, and Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor read excerpts from the bench, a rare occurrence. Breyer, joined by Justice Elena Kagan, found "evidence of anti-religious bias" that he said was worth a second go-round at the federal district court level.

Sotomayor's dissent was lengthier and more strident, and she spoke in court for some 20 minutes. Quoting extensively Trump's words during and after the 2016 campaign, she wrote: "A reasonable observer would conclude that the proclamation was motivated by anti-Muslim animus." She was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"What began as a policy explicitly 'calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States' has since morphed into a 'proclamation' putatively based on national-security concerns," Sotomayor said. "But this new window dressing cannot conceal an unassailable fact: the words of the president and his advisers create the strong perception that the proclamation is contaminated by impermissible discriminatory animus against Islam and its followers."
Keep reading.

It turns out Sotomayor was absolutely furious, as were leftist outrage mobsters on Twitter:


WWE Star Charlotte Flair for ESPN's Body Issue

At the Sun U.K., "'I AM STRONG' WWE star Charlotte Flair strips totally naked for incredible ESPN Body Issue photoshoot."

Kate Bock Moves Her Body (VIDEO)

Via Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:



WWE Star Mandy Rose Bikini

At Drunken Stepfather, "MANDY ROSE BIKINI OF THE DAY."

And on Twitter:


Monday, June 25, 2018

Democrats Divided on the Left's Violent Confrontations?

Actually, I don't think so. This is how it's going to be, and worse, right up to the midterm elections in November.

At NYT, "As Activists Confront Trump Officials, Democrats Confront Democrats":

WASHINGTON — For more than two years, Democrats have struggled with how aggressively to confront Donald J. Trump, a political opponent unlike any other: Should they attack him over his hard-line policies; his inflammatory, norm-breaking conduct; or some combination of both?

In recent days, as institutional Democrats wring their hands, those deliberations have started to give way to furious liberal activists and citizens who have taken matters into their own hands beyond the corridors of power.

Progressives have heckled the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, and the White House aide Stephen Miller at Washington restaurants. They have ejected the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, from a Lexington, Va., eatery. And they have screamed at one of Mr. Trump’s leading cable news surrogates, Florida’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, at a Tampa movie theater.

“Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up,” Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, said Saturday at a rally in Los Angeles. “And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”

The attempts at shaming have delighted many on the left, particularly following Mr. Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents, and many progressives feel that the president’s incendiary messaging and actions must be met with something far stronger than another round of news releases from politicians.

But the social media-fueled confrontations have opened a rift in the party over whether stoking anti-Trump outrage is helping or undermining its prospects in the midterm elections. Many younger Democrats believe that conventional politics are insufficient to the threat posed by a would-be authoritarian — and that their millennial and nonwhite base must be assured that the party is doing all it can to halt Mr. Trump.

Older and more establishment-aligned party officials fear the attempts at public humiliation are a political gift to Republicans eager to portray the opposition as inflaming rather than cooling passions in the nation’s capital.

“Trump’s daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable,” Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said Monday, rebuking Ms. Waters, a veteran flamethrower who is enjoying something of a renaissance in the Trump era...
More.

Previously: "The Left's Ratcheting Up Violent Rhetoric and Actions."

Alexis Ren in Sports Illustrated Outtakes

At Celeb Jihad, "Alexis Ren in SI Outtakes."

And ICYMI: "Alexis Ren in Corsett on the Beach (VIDEO)."


Bella Hadid for Vogue Mexico.

At People Magazine, "Bella Hadid Poses in Just a Thong for Vogue Mexico Beach Photo Shoot."

And on Twitter:

BONUS: At London's Daily Mail, "Bella Hadid dons giant sombrero while posing TOPLESS for Vogue shoot."

The Left's Ratcheting Up Violent Rhetoric and Actions

Following-up, "Congresswoman Maxine Waters Calls for Attacks on Trump Administration Officials (VIDEO)."

There's lots in the news on all of this, and on Twitter, of course.

For now, see Politico, "The left loses its cool: ‘When you’re violent and cursing and screaming and blocking me from walking into a movie, there’s something wrong,’ said one top GOP official":

Two senior Trump administration officials were heckled at restaurants. A third was denied service. Florida GOP Attorney General Pam Bondi required a police escort away from a movie about Mister Rogers after activists yelled at her in Tampa — where two other Republican lawmakers say they were also politically harassed last week, one of them with her kids in tow.

In the Donald Trump era, the left is as aggressively confrontational as anyone can remember.

What it means for 2018 — whether it portends a blue wave of populist revolt for Democrats or a red wall of silent majority resistance from Republicans — largely depends on one’s political persuasion. But there’s a bipartisan sense that this election season marks another inflection point in the collapse of civil political discourse.

Few disagree that Democrats are marching, protesting and confronting Republican officials with more intensity during the midterm election than at any time in decades. The progressive fervor recalls conservative opposition to the last president in his first midterm, when Democratic members of Congress were left running from disruptive town halls and ended up being crushed at the polls in November.

"If you see anybody from that Cabinet — in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station — you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere,” implored California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters at a Saturday rally, prompting an immediate conservative backlash on social media...
More.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters Calls for Attacks on Trump Administration Officials (VIDEO)

It's from Ryan Saavedra, at the Daily Wire, "WATCH: Maxine Waters Calls for Attacks on Members of Trump Administration."

Click through at the link to watch.

Words and actions like Congresswoman Waters' are the reason I think far-left fascist authoritarianism is the greatest danger to the U.S., not so called populist-nationalist "authoritarianism." (I mentioned there here.)

Check out this Hamilton Nolan piece at Splinter News:


I'll have more on this. Some say events of the last few days are triggering the onset of civil war. We'll see. It sure is heated.


President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wins Reelection in Turkey

The idea of "reelection" in a country like Turkey is essential meaningless. The electoral process isn't "free and fair."

At the New York Times, "Turkey’s Erdogan Has Won the Sweeping Powers He Says He Needed. Now What?":
ANKARA, Turkey — With his victory in Sunday’s elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken his place among the world’s emerging class of strongman rulers, nailing down the sweeping powers he has insisted he needs to address Turkey’s numerous challenges, at home and abroad.

Now, all he needs to do is deliver.

“He won on a knife-edge,” said Ugur Gurses, a former banker who writes for the daily newspaper Hurriyet. “But now he has in his lap all the problems.”

Mr. Erdogan is contending with an array of economic troubles, an increasingly disgruntled populace and deteriorating relations with Turkey’s Western allies. Among the many problems Mr. Erdogan faces is one fundamental roadblock: His foreign policy is fighting with his economic needs.

His increasingly authoritarian, nationalist and anti-Western bent is alienating foreign investors, which is hurting the Turkish lira. As the currency plunges, domestic capital flees. And he is newly reliant on a nationalist party that enabled him to maintain his majority in Parliament but promises to reinforce all those tendencies, as well as his hard line against the Kurdish minority.

The lira briefly rose with the news of Mr. Erdogan’s re-election, and his most senior economic adviser posted a message on Twitter on Sunday night: “This sets the stage for speeding up #reforms.”

The economy is Mr. Erdogan’s most pressing problem, but analysts express doubt that he will be able to perform the necessary surgery and introduce needed austerity measures with municipal elections looming in March 2019.

“Now the first challenge is the deterioration of the economy, and he has no means, no perspective to change the course of events,” said Kadri Gursel, a columnist for the newspaper Cumhuriyet, who was imprisoned by Mr. Erdogan for 11 months...
Keep reading.

On Twitter, Claire Berlinski --- who's a very smart cookie --- argues Turkey's a precursor to U.S. authoritarianism. Trump's out of office in 2025, if he wins reelection. So, you'd have to see Trumpism continue as an alleged political model of authoritarianism if Berlinski's predictions are to come true. I'm not so sure, because Turkey's basically a developing country, without a democratic (i.e., "liberal" political culture), and bereft of the kind of institutional republican safeguards inherent to the American constitutional regime. If authoritarianism comes, it's going to be through far-left fascism, IMHO.

More on that later, since everyone's talking about the so-called coming civil war. See this tweet, for example.

Jennifer Delacruz's Monday Forecast

It's been fabulously mild weather in the O.C.

I can dig it.

Now if the Angels could just win a game I'd be in Seventh Heaven (*eye roll*).

At ABC 10 News San Diego: