Kate Bock's Travel Tips (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Josie Canseco in Demand

At Galore, "JOSIE CANSECO IS THE IN DEMAND MODEL TO LOOK OUT FOR THIS SEASON."

And at Drunken Stepfather, "JOSIE CANSECO HOT AND HALF NAKED FOR GALORE OF THE DAY."

sorry baby pic.twitter.com/4Qn7D8jDeM

— Josie (@JosieCanseco) September 5, 2018

New York Times Publishes Anonymous Op-Ed Attacking President Trump

This is terrible. Disgusting.

At the hateful Old Gray Lady, "I Am Part of the Resistance - Inside the Trump Administration":

In Opinion

In an anonymous Op-Ed, a senior Trump administration official says he and others are working ​to frustrate the president’s “misguided impulses.” https://t.co/qW1IoM3AYY pic.twitter.com/rCHnQfcRjG

— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 5, 2018

"Anonymous." Like the "resistance" antifa goons, cowards with black masks covering their faces. The New York Times is the journalistic equivalent of antifa. Cowardly and despicable. #ThankYouTrump #MAGA #BrettKavanaugh #BrettKavanaughHearing #SorryNotSorry 🤷‍♂️ https://t.co/VJi8MxmW7d

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 5, 2018

Like I said 90% of media exists to troll him. Nothing more. pic.twitter.com/R9Bz4OFRrt

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 5, 2018

President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.

It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.

The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

I would know. I am one of them.

To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.

But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.

That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.

The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.

Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.

In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.

Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.

But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.

From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims.

Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.

“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier...

Still more (FWIW).

Stoneman-Douglas Parent Fred Guttenberg Stalked Brett Kavanaugh at Lunch Break During Senate Confirmation Hearing (VIDEO)

Ed Morrissey has the analysis, at Hot Air, "Today’s “Controversy”: Kavanaugh Declines Handshake From Father of Murdered Parkland Student":

If Zapruder-style analysis of a missed handshake ends up being the most eventful thing to happen at this hearing, and it might, we should never hold a hearing again.

Actually, we should never hold a hearing again even if this isn’t the most eventful thing to happen. These spectacles are insufferable, insulting, grandstanding garbage for whichever party happens to be in the minority. If I were Grassley, I would have warned them this morning after the first outbursts that another one would force him to adjourn the hearing and recommend that McConnell immediately call a floor vote on the nominee. (The only senators truly in doubt about how they’re voting are red-state Democrats whose votes aren’t needed for confirmation anyway.) And when Schumer inevitably shrieked that America didn’t get a hearing on the new justice, he’d be reminded that that was what his party chose with how they behaved.


And if you’re reading that thinking, “That sounds like how you’d treat a five-year-old, taking away their toys when they won’t stop acting out”: Right. Correct.

As for the non-handshake:

More at the link.

Sen. Ben Sasse Conducts Civics Lesson on Restoring 'Proper Constitutional Order' (VIDEO)

Thank goodness for YouTube.

This is fascinating.

At the Weekly Standard, "Sasse Rises Above":

Day one of the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings are stretching into their sixth hour, and we’ve hardly heard a word yet from the nominee himself. Instead, we’ve largely been subjected to a punishing slog of senatorial grandstanding, with members of both parties trading rhetorical barbs and dissertations on the importance of the day, set to a soundtrack of scolding and shrieking protestors being escorted one-by-one from the chamber. (Senator Mike Lee, to his credit, instead treated listeners to a slightly boring but informative history of how the Supreme Court confirmation process shaped up over the last hundred years.)

But Senator Ben Sasse took a different approach, eschewing the partisan bickering to offer a Schoolhouse Rock-tinged civics lesson on why SCOTUS proceedings had grown so contentious in the first place...

RTWT.

Amber Lee's Low Pressure Weather Forecast

It's been somewhat overcast and mild.

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

Petulant Toddler Democrats Launch Campaign of Pandemonium to Protest Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation (VIDEO)

I worked today, teaching classes. I had no time to tune into the Senate hearings on the Kavanaugh confirmation, although I would have liked to. But then I would have been disappointed and disgusted at the literal circus that Democrats created to somehow --- anyhow --- defeat the nomination? I'll tell you, this isn't going to do a thing. It's kabuki theater, as Michelle Malkin always points out. But whatever it is, it's despicable.

On Twitter and YouTube:

Democrats plotted coordinated protest strategy over the holiday weekend and all agreed to disrupt and protest the hearing, sources tell me and @frankthorp

Dem leader @chuckschumer led a phone call and committee members are executing now

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) September 4, 2018

Kabuki Theater of the Resistance. https://t.co/wquOvHjlIM

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) September 4, 2018

Democrats wrestled with walking out of Kavanaugh hearing or perhaps a boycott, per multiple sources. They settled on a middle ground: disruption
⁦@eschor⁩ https://t.co/n4nNFyDgh4

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) September 4, 2018

Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearings

Confirmation hearings begin tomorrow.

I've been seeing a lot of tweets on Kavanaugh, especially from that crazy leftist wench Lauren Duca.

Here's some stuff online:

For @teenvogue: Why we can and must #StopKavanaugh https://t.co/frXNQmgAO9

— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) August 31, 2018

'The stakes are astronomical': Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing will be a battle royale https://t.co/JOynAks1yG

— The Guardian (@guardian) September 3, 2018

This isn't just any Supreme Court seat. https://t.co/JutYMnuYs2

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 3, 2018

How Brett Kavanaugh would transform the Supreme Court https://t.co/X7F7GNDb84 pic.twitter.com/lnYEMIdzIR

— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 3, 2018

"Brett Kavanaugh’s views on privacy and the Fourth Amendment should make Republicans think twice" https://t.co/J5RXRdNk5v pic.twitter.com/31NEdp8lFB

— The Hill (@thehill) September 3, 2018

Emily Chang, Brotopia

At Amazon, Emily Chang, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley.

Kelly Brook 2019 Calendar

At the Sun U.K., "KEL'S ANGEL: Topless Kelly Brook has a cheeky glance over her shoulder in exclusive snaps from her 2019 calendar. The Brit model, 38, covered her boobs as she showed off her sand-covered floral bikini bottoms in a sexy pose."

Topless Kelly Brook reveals exclusive snaps from her 2019 calendar - and she looks incredible 😍https://t.co/FDo6ySiHEm

— The Sun (@TheSun) September 1, 2018

Plus, flashback to 2013: "Phenomenal New Kelly Brook Sunbathing Pics From Cancun."

Twitter Struggles to Police Bad Actors

If there were a decent alternative I'd use it.

But that alternative is not Gab.ai, which is the home to white supremacists mostly (AFAICT).

Twitter is so bad, though, I doubt it can continue to grow and maintain viability. It's too partisan and hideously biased against conservatives.

It's a joke frankly.

But like I said, it's the place for politics on social media until a genuine alternative emerges.

At WSJ, "Inside Twitter’s Long, Slow Struggle to Police Bad Actors":

Twitter soon plans "to start showing users a picture of a tombstone in the place of a tweet that has been taken down as a way to signal that a user has violated a company policy” https://t.co/nBwoDH5TrS

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) September 3, 2018

When Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Jack Dorsey testifies before Congress this week, he’ll likely be asked about an issue that has been hovering over the company: Just who decides whether a user gets kicked off the site?

To some Twitter users—and even some employees—it is a mystery.

In policing content on the site and punishing bad actors, Twitter relies primarily on its users to report abuses and has a consistent set of policies so that decisions aren’t made by just one person, its executives say.

Yet, in some cases, Mr. Dorsey has weighed in on content decisions at the last minute or after they were made, sometimes resulting in changes and frustrating other executives and employees, according to people familiar with the matter.

Understanding Mr. Dorsey’s role in making content decisions is crucial, as Twitter tries to become more transparent to its 335 million users, as well as lawmakers about how it polices toxic content on its site.

In a hearing Wednesday morning before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Dorsey will appear alongside Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to discuss how foreign actors can use the social-media platforms to spread misinformation and propaganda. Later in the day, the House Commerce Committee will question Mr. Dorsey individually in a Republican-led look at how Twitter treats conservative voices.

The latter hearing “is about pulling back the curtain on Twitter’s algorithms, how the company makes decisions about content, and how those decisions impact Americans,” said Rep. Greg Walden (R., Ore.), the chairman of the House Commerce Committee.

Twitter and rival Facebook are increasingly caught in a Catch-22 situation—criticized by some users for allowing hateful posts, but blasted by others for removing content because it curtails free speech.

Twitter has taken a different approach than Facebook, which has hired thousands of content reviewers in the last couple of years to review posts and built out technology to flag inappropriate content. Twitter has far less staff and typically only investigates harassment and abuse that has been reported by users.

Last month, after Twitter’s controversial decision to allow far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to remain on its platform, Mr. Dorsey told one person that he had overruled a decision by his staff to kick Mr. Jones off, according to a person familiar with the discussion. Twitter disputes that account and says Mr. Dorsey wasn’t involved in those discussions.

Twitter’s initial inaction on Mr. Jones, after several other major tech companies banned or limited his content, drew fierce backlash from the public and Twitter’s own employees, some of whom tweeted in protest.

A similar chain of events unfolded in November 2016, when the firm’s trust and safety team kicked alt-right provocateur Richard Spencer off the platform, saying he was operating too many accounts. Mr. Dorsey, who wasn’t involved in the initial discussions, told his team that Mr. Spencer should be allowed to keep one account and stay on the site, according to a person directly involved in the discussions.

Twitter says Mr. Dorsey doesn’t overrule staffers on content issues. The company declined to make Mr. Dorsey available...

Keep reading.

Progress on New Inglewood Stadium (VIDEO)

It's the future home of the Rams and Chargers.

At LAT, "Rams tour Inglewood Stadium site and like what they see as progress continues."

Alexis Ren Feels Like a Diva (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

Some Girl and Her Hot Body

At Entensity, "Naked Girl and her Hot Body…"

Hat Tip: Drunken Stepfather, "MORNING HANGOVER DUMP OF THE DAY."

Angie Harmon, 46, Flaunts Fabulous Figure in String Bikini During Beach Vacation

From just last month.

She's got the body of a teenager, dang.

At Women's Health, "Angie Harmon Just Celebrated Her 46th Birthday With an Insane Bikini Abs Pic."

And at People:

Angie Harmon, 46, Shows Off Her Toned Bikini Body as She Celebrates Birthday with BF Greg Vaughan https://t.co/bVrqR2ECC0

— People (@people) August 16, 2018

Germany is 'Unsettled' by Islamic 'Refugees'

Change is a coming.

Change to Germany. Change for the better, and it's about time.

Sheesh.

At Poltico E.U., "German far right fuels Muslim ‘takeover’ fears: A series of violent crimes committed by refugees is unsettling the nation":

Can Germany survive Islam? That question is once again at the center of the country’s public discourse https://t.co/kcbUD4KyI4

— POLITICO Europe (@POLITICOEurope) September 3, 2018

BERLIN — Can Germany survive Islam?

That question is once again at the center of the country’s public discourse amid the violent protests that followed last week’s brutal killing of a German man, allegedly at the hands of two Muslim refugees, and the publication of a new book titled “Hostile Takeover, how Islam halts progress and threatens society.”

On Saturday, about 11,000 people (8,000 right-wing and far-right protesters and about 3,000 anti-Nazis, according to police estimates) took to the streets of the eastern German city of Chemnitz, where the killing occurred. Eighteen people were injured, including a TV reporter who was thrown down a flight of stairs.

There’s nothing new about such clashes, or even the debate over Islam. What the past week reveals, however, is the degree to which the refugee influx since 2015 continues to dominate the country’s politics and fuel support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The pictures of marauding neo-Nazis in Chemnitz suggest the German government has largely failed to keep the violent extreme right in check, despite decades of trying.

By all rights, Germany should be celebrating a golden era. Unemployment is the lowest it’s been since reunification amid robust economic growth. The country’s public debt is on course to fall below 60 percent of gross domestic product this year, meaning Berlin will fulfill the Maastricht criteria for the first time in almost 20 years.

Despite Germany’s growing prosperity, its society is seething as the negative consequences of taking in more than 1 million asylum seekers since 2015 sink in. “Who should be allowed in?” asked Der Spiegel on its cover last week. This week’s cover, devoted to Saxony, the state where the violence occurred, reads: “When the right grabs power.”

Thilo Sarrazin, the former Bundesbank official and provocateur who wrote “Hostile Takeover,” has tapped into Germany’s unease about the refugee influx with a dystopian prediction of what lies ahead...

Keep reading.

U.S. Officials Cracking Down on Illegal Immigrants Using Fake Documents to Secure Legal Status

The U.S. is seizing documents of so-called "citizens" along the U.S.-Mexico border. It turns out that loads of illegals are claiming dual citizenship --- citizenship in Mexico, where they were born, and citizenship in the U.S. --- where they're using fraudulent papers to scam U.S. taxpayers and help Democrats win office.

The Other McCain has the story, "Fake News, Real Hate":

Fake News, Real Hate: https://t.co/kJoWUFvkyd via @PatriarchTree pic.twitter.com/PhGYbG1b2v

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 3, 2018

When President Trump attacks the liberal media as “fake news,” this is treated by the media as a threat to freedom of the press. However, it is the press itself which, by its deliberately one-sided partisan approach to news, is destroying its own credibility. The transparent biases of the media — e.g., CNN’s role as the “Clinton News Network” in 2016 — are not merely harmful to their own journalistic integrity; they are a threat to democracy itself. “Fake news” is bad for America.

Consider the case of a Washington Post article about efforts by U.S. immigration officials to prevent illegal entry into the country by those using fraudulent documents. This article by Kevin Sieff claims that “U.S. citizens are increasingly being swept up by immigration enforcement agencies.” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert denounced the Post article as “dishonest,” and declared: “This is an irresponsible attempt to create division and stoke fear among American citizens while attempting to inflame tensions over immigration.”

The central claim of Sieff’s article — that there is a “surging” number of people being denied U.S. passports as part of a Trump administration “crackdown” — is false. According to State Department figures, the approval rate for passport applications involving disputed birth certificates has actually increased, from 64.1% in 2014 to 74.2% so far in 2018. Obviously, passport denials cannot be “surging,” if the approval rate is increasing; Seiff’s article is therefore “fake news” — partisan propaganda, an anti-Trump hit job disguised as journalism.

Sieff constructed a textbook example of fraudulent “reporting.” For example, he treats as authoritative the claims of two immigration lawyers in Texas, one of whom says that cases of denied passports are “skyrocketing,” and another who asserts that he is aware of “probably 20 people” who are U.S. citizens that have been sent to “detention centers” by the Trump administration. These anecdotal claims were accepted as fact by Sieff, who nevertheless was unable to identify even one such case by name, so it is impossible to verify if any such cases actually exist.

What is the truth? State Department spokeswoman Nauert explained...

Keep reading.

Expect Big Economic Lift-Off from President Trump's 'Space Force' (VIDEO)

Hey, leftists even like Trump's plan for a "space force."

And while we're at it, perhaps we could launch a few members of the anti-Trump "resistance" into outer space. They'd be good target practice for the all-American intergalactic Air Force, lol.

Trump's "space force" could propel Southern California's aerospace industry https://t.co/uAIub478ij pic.twitter.com/CwTGejOwyh

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) September 2, 2018

At LAT, "Trump's 'space force' could propel Southern California's aerospace industry":

One of the big winners from President Trump’s push for a new military service called “space force” may be one of his least favorite places — California.

Once the launchpad of the nation’s aerospace industry, Southern California stands to see a surge in government and industry jobs and billions of dollars in contracts for satellites and other technology if Congress approves the space force when it takes up the proposal next year, industry experts and former military officials said.

“You can’t just go out in the middle of Iowa and try to create a center for space,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), a retired Air Force officer. “So Southern California is very well situated” to get substantial benefits.

The extent of the benefits would depend on where the headquarters is located, how much is spent on new satellites and other space systems, and how many people and programs now in the Air Force and other existing armed services might be shifted to the new force.

Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis said Tuesday that planners have just begun preparing cost estimates. “We’ve already commenced the effort, but I don’t want to give you an off-the-cuff number,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon.

The biggest uncertainty is whether Trump or Congress would try to direct the rewards to other states. The president has visited California only once since taking office, and his administration has warred with Sacramento on fuel efficiency standards, clean air regulations, firefighting techniques and more.

“Southern California remains the largest concentration of space technology, including military space technology, in the United States,” said Loren Thompson, aerospace analyst with the Lexington Institute think tank, which receives money from major industry players, including Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.

“But when you set up a new military service, you increase the impact of politics in ways that might not necessarily be good for California,” he added.

Colorado and Florida, which also boast extensive civilian and military aerospace facilities, could be big winners too.

The White House says it will unveil its plan for a space force early next year. For now, the Pentagon is taking interim steps, including creation of a Space Command in the Air Force to centralize planning for war fighting in space.

Congressional approval of Trump’s idea for a futuristic armed force for space is by no means certain. Key lawmakers, some Pentagon officials and senior commanders, especially in the Air Force, fear losing responsibility and budgetary authority for space...

More.

Jennifer Delacruz's Labor Day Forecast

Enjoy your holiday everybody. It's going to be glorious today.

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

Meghan McCain's Sneering Contempt

That was my first reaction when I saw this brief video, and my goodness the look on her face is shocking. She's an angry old woman (as someone snarked on Twitter at the time), and she's not even old yet. Bitter and angry.

"The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great," Meghan McCain says to applause at her father's memorial. https://t.co/2YcKzM6pnb pic.twitter.com/TF5Yovu6eK

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 1, 2018

Damn, the sneering contempt on her face. Damn.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) September 1, 2018