Norah O'Donnell Statement on Leslie Moonves (VIDEO)

First, from Ronan Farrow (who else?), at the New Yorker, "Leslie Moonves Steps Down from CBS, After Six Women Raise New Sexual Harassment Claims."

And the flashback to last November, "Charlie Rose Fired by CBS, Dropped by PBS, After Sexual Harassment Allegations."

And here's Ms. Norah, from yesterday's CBS This Morning:

Republican Insiders Prepare for Electoral D-Day

I've been holding off on election projections, but as I always point out, the president's party normally loses seats in the midterms. Even with the strong economy, I don't expect this year to be all that different, especially in the House. I doubt the Democrats will take the Senate, though, since they're defending like 25 seats, and 10 are in states in which President Trump won (in some cases by double digits).

But we'll see.

We'll see.

At Vanity Fair, "“The House Is Already Lost”: G.O.P. Insiders Prepare for Electoral D-Day":

My latest for @VanityFair & @VFHIVE: https://t.co/LJgb3ucoCx

— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) September 10, 2018

At this stage of the game, losing the House is the most likely proposition. It’s just a matter of how bad it gets,” said a disconsolate Republican strategist with clients on the ballot, describing the final, desperate scramble to rescue the G.O.P.’s 23-seat majority from an impeachment-happy opposition. In Washington, a familiar sort of fatalism has taken hold. Just weeks until early voting kicks off, a spate of fresh public-opinion polls show Democrats on the precipice of a resounding victory. Time is short; resources are dwindling, and the singular figure with the power to make or break the party—Donald Trump—seems pathologically incapable of standing down and letting a booming job market do the talking. “You have people imploring the president not to put them in a position that will harm them—and therefore harm him,” a veteran G.O.P. operative said of Republican congressional leaders.

The pendulum of political power, which historically swings against the White House during the midterms, could be especially savage this year, given the sharp dissatisfaction with Trump in America’s usually Republican-leaning suburbs. Washington’s high-powered consulting class is betting on it. The lobby shops and advocacy organizations that play both sides and thrive on proximity to power are preparing for a changing of the gavel and moving to forge connections with Democratic committee chairmen in the House beginning in January of 2019, when the 116th Congress is seated. “Downtown, there is a sense that the House is already lost for Republicans,” a G.O.P. lobbyist and former senior House aide told me. “There is a hiring spree for plugged-in House Democrats who want to lobby. So, downtown is already planning on the Democratic takeover; the bets are on how big the flip will be.

Democratic operatives aren’t being snapped up by K Street at quite the same rate as two years ago. Lobbying shops were chastened by Trump’s victory in 2016 and are awaiting more evidence to confirm what appears to be a surging blue tide. But professional Washington is not unconvinced. They’re privy to much of the same data being poured over by dialed-in Republicans, and believe an end to one-party rule is on the horizon. Whatever bump the Republicans enjoyed earlier this year, during the brief period of normalcy after Trump signed the historic, $1.3 trillion tax overhaul into law, appears long gone. So is the goodwill House Republicans anticipated when they pictured a fall campaign with a national economy growing at an annual clip of 4 percent, and an unemployment rate that had plummeted below 4 percent. “I’m advising clients to start covering their bases with would-be chairs,” said another Republican lobbyist, referring to the Democrats who are likely to take over powerful House committees, such as Energy and Commerce or Ways and Means.

The political forces battering the G.O.P. aren’t hitting the two houses of Congress equally. As I reported for the Washington Examiner and discovered during a summer swing through the Midwest, 2018 is essentially a tale of two campaigns, reflective of the balkanization gripping our politics. As bad as the midterms look for House Republicans, with dozens of seats in danger, their Senate colleagues begin the fall chase better positioned. The party’s 51-49 Senate majority, propped up by a battleground that runs right through the heart of Trump country, could actually expand, if Republicans can navigate a few molehills, and if those molehills don’t grow into mountains. Rep. Beto O’Rourke might upset Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, granted that has as much to do with the Republican’s own image problems as the Democratic Party’s Senate prospects.

Democrats are on the defensive in a handful of ruby red states a world away from restless, upscale suburbia...

 More.

Nice Lady

Seen on Twitter, dang!

Big sexy cleavage! #boobs #tits @Real_modela pic.twitter.com/4wOyCXs7px

— Big Breast Pics (@BigBreastPics) August 7, 2018

Camila Morrone Bikini Pics

At Hollywood Tuna, "Camila Morrone Is One Busty Insta-Model."

BONUS: At Drunken Stepfather, "MORNING HANGOVER DUMP OF THE DAY."

Jennifer Delacruz's Overcast Monday Forecast

It'll clear up by the afternoon, but that's a total fog layer along the coast.

Here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer, with her hair up in some kind of bob, at ABC 10 News San Diego:

Stephen Harrigan, The Gates of the Alamo

*BUMPED.*

I just finished Sylvia Plath's, The Bell Jar (which I picked up on a whim).

Now I'm starting Stephen Harrigan's, The Gates of the Alamo.

And thanks for shopping my Amazon links.

Rita Ora of the Day

At Drunken Stepfather, "RITA ORA NIPPLES OF THE DAY."

Also, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY."

BONUS: "Rita Ora Relaxes in a Bikini by the Pool in France," and "Rita Ora in White Lace."

'Straight Outta Caracas'

Omg this is hilarious.

At Twitchy, "‘I Can’t Get No Socialism’: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s photo inspires HILARIOUS titles and songs for her new album":

'I Can't Get No Socialism': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's photo inspires HILARIOUS titles and songs for her new album https://t.co/ecd3t4jaos

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 9, 2018

This photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez where she appears to be sitting on some seriously worn out stairs wearing fairly pricey threads (and check out those shoes!) reminded Matt’s Idea Shop of the type of photo a band or a pop diva would use for an album.

Is she dropping an album or something? pic.twitter.com/T5qdvHhpx7

— Matt’s Idea Shop (@MattsIdeaShop) September 8, 2018

pic.twitter.com/WtdtJ1KPaw

— Matt’s Idea Shop (@MattsIdeaShop) September 9, 2018

"Westchester Side, yo,
Just a socialist gangsta
Democrat stylin', buckwilin'
Frontin' in my Gucci handbag
Like my arugula
with thousand islands
Don't mess with my frappe
Take my milk with extra soy
Don't hate on my rap
Or your whole economy I'll destroy" pic.twitter.com/Ffepv9RzqY

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) September 9, 2018

Gavin Newsome, Former Mayor of America's Biggest Urban Dumphole, Rose to Power Backed by Bay Area's Big-Money Interests

If you haven't yet, make sure you read Joel Kotkin's The New Class Conflict, which details the political realignment of the last few decades whereby the Democrat Party has become the party of the elite coastal corporate rich.

These new Democrat leftists don't really care about the poor --- consider Mark Zuckerberg building a walled digital castle in San Francisco's "hipster central Dolores Park," using migrant laborers and pissing off the district's neighbors (who dare not say a word lest they face retaliation). No, they care about their corporate profits and the leftist virtue signaling. You never see far-left Democrat elites living a lifestyle of those they say they represent. Indeed, their actual policies, especially in California --- with its obsession on climate change regulation --- keep people poor, saddling them with higher taxes, unaffordable housing, and wasteful government bureaucracy.

California is the ultimate wealthy insider's country club of power and privilege, but only if you're a soi-disant progressive.

Meh.

Newsome's a loser and we'll be saddled with his terrible far-left San Francisco policies for nearly a decade.

At the Los Angeles Times, "How eight elite San Francisco families funded Gavin Newsom’s political ascent":

On today's Los Angeles Times front page: How eight elite San Francisco families funded Gavin Newsom's political ascent https://t.co/CPtotNCgrP by @LATSeema @ryanvmenezes @maloym Design by @priyakkumar @vnessamartinez Animation: @swetha_kan pic.twitter.com/hrF87eaf1v

— Allison Wisk (@allisonwisk) September 9, 2018

Gavin Newsom wasn’t born rich, but he was born connected — and those alliances have paid handsome dividends throughout his career.

A coterie of San Francisco’s wealthiest families has backed him at every step of his political rise, which in November could lead next to his election as governor of California.

San Francisco society’s “first families” — whose names grace museum galleries, charity ball invitations and hospital wards — settled on Newsom, 50, as their favored candidate two decades ago, said Willie Brown, former state Assembly speaker and former mayor of the city.

“He came from their world, and that’s why they embraced him without hesitancy and over and above everybody else,” said Brown, who is a mentor to Newsom. “They didn’t need to interview him. They knew what he stood for.”

A Times review of campaign finance records identified eight of San Francisco’s best-known families as being among Newsom’s most loyal and long-term contributors. Among those patrons are the Gettys, the Pritzkers and the Fishers, whose families made their respective fortunes in oil, hotels and fashion. They first backed him when he was a restaurateur and winery owner running for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1998, and have continued their support through the governor’s race.

They are not Newsom’s largest donors: The families in total have given about $2 million of the $61 million that donors have contributed to his campaigns and independent committees backing those bids. But they gave while he was a relative unknown, providing crucial support to a political newcomer in the years before his campaign accounts piled high with cash from labor unions, Hollywood honchos, tech billionaires and donors up and down the state.

Now the families appear poised to see their investments pay off.

These donors are mostly liberal, inspired by Newsom’s history as an early supporter of progressive causes, including same-sex marriage as San Francisco mayor in 2004. But some are Republicans, including President Trump’s new ambassador to Austria, who are drawn by Newsom’s background as a small businessman...

 More.

RELATED: At Instapundit, "WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-RUN STATES SO CLASS-BOUND AND STAGNANT? Joel Kotkin: The Hollowing-Out of the California Dream. For minorities in the Golden State, opportunity and upward mobility are hard to come by."

Nike's Colin Kaepernick 'Just Do It' Campaign (VIDEO)

At Gateway Pundit, "Tucker Carlson on Nike Honoring Kaepernick: “When the Most Successful People Hate the Society You’ve Got a Problem” (VIDEO).

"On Tuesday Tucker Carlson weighed in on Nike’s decision to use Kaepernick as its public face.

Tucker Carlson: It’s factually ludicrous. You can’t give up everything and maintain a Nike contract. It’s the executives profiting on him and his attacks on the United States while simultaneously denying they are attacks on the United States… This is an attack on the country. So it would be very different if he were saying I’m protesting this politician or this policy or this specific person for doing this specific thing. But no, sitting during the National Anthem is a way of making a broad-based generalized and therefore impossible to rebut attack against the country that made him and Nike rich. Again there is something really decadent about that when the most successful people in your society hate the society you’ve got a real problem. It’s a metaphor for our entire ruling class...

And watch:

Alternative for Germany (AfD) Surges in Popularity

Hey, Merkel's almost single-handedly bringing the new "hard-right" to power in Germany.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Germany: Anti-Immigration Party Surges in Popularity."

Heather Mac Donald Discusses The Diversity Delusion

Video at AEI, "Heather Mac Donald on how universities have become hatred machines poisoned by identity politics."

And at Amazon, Heather Mac Donald, The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture.

Rose McGowan Posts Defiant Instagram Photo on Her Birthday

She's posting fully topless, which I don't think you're supposed to do on Instagram

At Hollywood Life, "Rose McGowan Shows Off Naked Breasts in Proud Instagram Post on Her Birthday."

And at Taxi Driver, "Rose McGown Goes Fully Topless on her Instagram."

BONUS: At Rolling Stone, "Rose McGowan Feels ‘Betrayed’ by Asia Argento," and at People, "Asia Argento Slams Rose McGowan for 'False Claims' Over Sexual Assault Allegation: She's 'Wrong'."

Kara Del Toro in Black Bikini

She's lovely.

At Hollywood Tuna, "Kara Del Toro Belongs in a Bikini."

Election 2018 Pits Surging Economy Against Polarizing President

This is interesting.

At LAT, "Trump's first midterm pits a booming economy against one of history's most unpopular presidents":

The midterm election now just over eight weeks away is shaping up as a seismic collision between two powerful and competing forces, a rip-roaring national economy and a deeply polarizing and unpopular president. Heading into the home-stretch: https://t.co/Mto0WNH0k6

— Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) September 7, 2018

The midterm election now just over eight weeks away is shaping up as a seismic collision between two powerful and competing forces, a rip-roaring national economy and a deeply polarizing and unpopular president.

At stake on Nov. 6 is not just control of Congress but the fate of President Trump as he faces a special counsel investigation and a series of scandals that Democrats, given the power on Capitol Hill, would eagerly exploit.

Polling and turnout in a raft of primaries and other elections suggest Democrats are highly motivated — more so than Republicans — and the party seems poised to gain strength in Washington as well as capitals across the country.

GOP hopes of forestalling a November debacle rest mainly on the strength of these boom times.

Economic growth has hit the fastest clip in nearly four years. Consumer spending is brisk. Unemployment is near an 18-year low, and average hourly wages are climbing — 2.7% in July, compared with a year ago.

“History tells you there should be a big blue wave,” said Scott Reed, a political strategist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but he sees prosperity acting as a breakwater. “People feel good.”

The chamber and other GOP allies are spending millions of dollars in hopes of translating those upbeat sentiments into Republican votes, airing advertisements like one praising Rep. Steve Knight — who faces a tough reelection fight against Democrat Katie Hill in the high desert outside Los Angeles — for supporting the tax bill Trump signed into law.

“It’s not cheap to live here,” says a narrator, as a scene of the L.A. skyline yields to a bird’s-eye view of the U.S. Capitol. “So when Congress cut taxes for working families, that made a difference.”

If a wave is coming, California will probably feel it for the first time in decades. Indeed, the state that beats at the heart of the Trump resistance is central to Democratic hopes of seizing control of the House.

There are six Republican-held districts in addition to Knight’s — threading through Southern California and the Central Valley — that Democrat Hillary Clinton carried. Half a dozen appear to be in play, owing not just to anti-Trump attitudes but political lines drawn to enhance competition. (Voters saw to that in 2010 by creating an independent redistricting commission.)

Still others in the Central Valley, east San Diego County and the Sierra Nevada could flip in the event of a strong Democratic tide.

Winning just a few of those contests would go a considerable way toward giving the party the 23 seats needed for a House takeover; Republicans are counting on a ballot measure repealing a state gas tax hike to boost GOP turnout and cut its California losses.

The Senate presents a different picture. Democrats face a much steeper path to take control, even though the party needs just a two-seat gain...

More.

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BONUS: Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure.

The Left is Your Enemy (VIDEO)

A great, great new video from Dennis Prager:

The Left's 'New Socialism'

The left's new socialism is pretty the same as the left's old socialism.

See Jedediah Purdy, at Politico, and then watch the video from the Victims of Communism Foundation below:

Opinion: The new socialism is both thoroughly American and pretty damned radical https://t.co/fpH7VbKaEc

— POLITICO (@politico) September 7, 2018

NFL Season Opener Fumbles

I'll tune in Monday night for the Rams, but mostly because the Angels are out of contention and I'll be bored.

Besides, I'm rooting for the Rams this year. Hopefully they'll eschew the anthem protests, sheesh.

At Deadline Hollywood, "Eagles Bring Out “Philly Special” to Win But NFL Kickoff Ratings Down From 2017":

#FridayFeeling or #FridayMotivation ? #NFLKickoff ratings down to multi-year low as #ATLvsPHI starts late on harsh TV landscape ... even with that winning version of the "Philly Special" https://t.co/fS0NU4PVh8

— Dominic Patten (@DeadlineDominic) September 7, 2018

With only Eagles defensive end Michael Bennett taking to the bench in protest during the national anthem, when things finally did kick off on NBC just after 9 PM ET, it certainly didn’t seem to be the most inspiring game. At one point, tell-it-like-it-is Philly fans were booing the current Super Bowl champs on live TV for their lame efforts on the field.

Then, as it looked like Atlanta would be grinding out a win, the action really started right near the end as the Eagles dusted off a variation of their Super Bowl move the Philly Special. With some quick moves, QB Nick Foles snagged a 15-yard pass from teammate Nelson Agholor on a reverse to seal an 18-12 victory for the Eagles and some respect from the more than just the fans at Lincoln Financial Field.

Sadly, that glory did not translate into the ratings

With a 13.4/5 in the metered markets, the post-midnight ending game is down 8% from last year’s kickoff of September 7, 2017. In one of the lowest season openers ratingswise and facing portions of a cable news-covered rally by a very NFL critical President Donald Trump, last night’s game is not only down from last year, but 2016, 2015 and 2014 – all of which saw successive declines.

To add more injury to that, the 2017 8:42 PM ET-starting season opener between the victorious Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots ended up with a weak 7.7/29 rating among adults 18-49 and 21.8 million viewers. That was a double digit decline from 2016 and the worst total audience an opening game had since 2009.

ven in a TV landscape where ratings and viewership are noticeably dipping, unless you are This Is Us or Game Of Thrones, those results have to worry the NFL and the broadcasters, especially the still Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox with its pricey Thursday Night Football debuting this year

We’ll update with more NFL kickoff numbers and other ratings like Big Brother, which was on too last night, as we get them later today...

More.

Megan Parry's Friday Forecast

She's such a sweetie.

At ABC News 10 San Diego: