Alex Morgan Behind the Scenes (VIDEO)

I'd rather have Alex Morgan, heh.

We all want to have sex with Megan Rapinoe right?

— Megan Gailey (@megangailey) July 7, 2019

Added: At Celeb Jihad, "ALEX MORGAN ULTIMATE ASS COMPILATION."

Bella Thorne Bikini and Beer

At Drunken Stepfather, "BELLA THORNE NOT GETTING EATEN BY SHOTS OF THE DAY."

Megan Rapinoe and U.S. Women's Team Win World Cup 2019

At the Los Angeles Times, "Megan Rapinoe took center stage and owned it at Women's World Cup."

And at the Other McCain, "Anti-American Women Win World Championship of Anti-American Sport":

.@PatriarchTree "Anti-American Women Win World Championship of Anti-American Sport." #USWNT #Soccer #WordCup 🤷‍♂️🙄 https://t.co/kWhFZZW0NT pic.twitter.com/HPuJrHhUhB

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 8, 2019

If you don’t want to Make America Great Again, why should Americans cheer for you? If you are an American opposed to the freely elected government of your own country, our First Amendment protects your right as a citizen to engage in protest, but those who support the government cannot be required to endorse your protest.

How many celebrity athletes expressed Tea Party sentiments while Obama was president? Can anyone recall sports teams refusing to go to the White House after winning a championship during the Obama years? Perhaps you can think of a right-wing analog of Megan Rapinoe, but searching my memory, I don’t recall any Democrat president ever being openly insulted the way the U.S. women’s World Cup team has insulted President Trump. And if Rapinoe and her teammates imagine that soccer will become more popular because they have made their sport symbolic of an anti-American protest movement, my guess is that they will be learn otherwise. There has been a lot of noise about the disparity of income between men and women in professional soccer, but the fact is that in most of the world, this is a sport played primarily by men. Only in the United States, where real men play real football, is soccer regarded as a coed sport. One reason the U.S. women are so dominant in international competition is that in soccer-crazy countries like Brazil and Argentina, the sport is still regarded as too rough for girls to play. (And if you’ve seen how Brazilians and Argentines play the game, you understand why they routinely stomp the crap out of the U.S. men’s team.)

Honestly, I am pro-soccer...

Still more.

Jennifer Delacruz's Monday Forecast

We're having wonderfully mild weather.

Compared to Oklahoma, this is heaven.

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

How the 'Invisible Primary' May Pick Dems' 2020 Nominee

From Bill Schneider, who used to be a great analyst on CNN back in the day, but you never see him anymore. *Shrugs.*

At the Hill, "The 'invisible primary' has begun":

My latest piece for The Hill:https://t.co/41ky5eohU4

— Bill Schneider (@BillSchneiderDC) July 7, 2019

The first primary of the 2020 presidential campaign is underway. It’s called the “invisible primary.” Nobody actually goes to a polling place to cast a ballot — but there are winners and losers.

The invisible primary takes place the year before the presidential election. The winner is the candidate who ends the year with the most support in the polls and the most money raised.

Does the invisible primary predict the ultimate winner? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It worked four years ago when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump came out on top of their respective parties. It didn’t work in the 2004 election when the winner of the invisible Democratic primary was Howard Dean. In January 2004, when the actual voting began, Dean came in third in the Iowa caucuses and second to John Kerry in New Hampshire. By mid-February, Dean was out.

So where does the Democratic race stand now?

California Sen. Kamala Harris was the clear winner of the first Democratic debate. That has brought her a huge amount of media attention and a rise in the polls. She may become the leading progressive candidate. But not necessarily the nominee.

Since World War II, Democratic primaries have often ended up as showdowns between progressives and populists. The difference is social class. Progressive Democratic voters tend to be relatively affluent, well educated and liberal, particularly on social issues like abortion and guns. Populist Democratic voters tend to be working class, non-college educated and moderate on social issues, though often liberal on economic issues like health care.

In the 1950s, Democrats were divided between Adlai Stevenson (progressive) and Estes Kefauver (populist). In 1968, it was Eugene McCarthy (progressive) versus Robert Kennedy (populist). In 1972, George McGovern (progressive) and Hubert Humphrey (populist). 1984: Gary Hart (progressive) and Walter Mondale (populist). 1988: Michael Dukakis (progressive) and Richard Gephardt (populist). 1992: Paul Tsongas (progressive) and Bill Clinton (populist). 2000: Bill Bradley (progressive) and Al Gore (populist). 2008: Barack Obama (progressive) and Hillary Clinton (populist). In the 2016 Democratic race, Bernie Sanders branded himself a populist, but his core support came from young progressives.

Democrats won in 2018 because, in a midterm, the party didn’t have to come up with one presidential candidate. In 2020, they do.

Right now, Joe Biden dominates the populist wing of the party, often described as “moderates.”

The progressive field is more crowded — and more divided.

Harris is poised to challenge Sanders as the progressive alternative to Biden. But she faces a lot of competition from other Democrats popular with the NPR crowd — Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O’Rourke, Kirsten Gillibrand. Biden has to hope progressives fail to unite behind a single “Stop Biden” candidate.

The polls show Biden doing best among older Democrats. To young progressives, Biden is a voice of the past. The English novelist L.P. Hartley once wrote, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Like bipartisanship and compromise. And collaboration with outright racists. To older Democrats, however, the past is when things used to work — before Trump came along to cause chaos and disruption. They’re counting on Biden to restore that past.

From the 1930s to the 1960s, white populists, led by organized labor, were the dominant force in the Democratic Party. They began leaving the party when Democrats embraced the civil rights movement. Non-college educated whites have not voted for a Democrat for president in more than 50 years.

The populist vote in the Democratic Party today is mostly minority voters. Southern whites and northern white ethnics (who used to be called “Archie Bunker” voters) have become out of reach for Democrats. White working-class voters are often depicted as the swing vote, but they’re unlikely to swing back to the Democratic Party, not even for Biden. Biden started the race with strong black and Latino support. He’s finding out that he can’t afford to alienate those minorities.

The swing vote today is college-educated white suburban voters who are appalled by President Trump. In 2018, Democratic House candidates made their biggest gains in affluent suburban districts like Orange County, Calif., and Fairfax County, Va. Those upscale voters respond to progressive messages on social issues like abortion and guns. Not to tax hikes or “socialism.”

The 2016 election taught Democrats an important lesson. They expected that revulsion at the prospect of a Trump presidency would rally the party. That didn’t quite happen. Here’s why...

Still more.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, All Things Made New

At Amazon, Diarmaid MacCulloch, All Things Made New: The Reformation and Its Legacy.

Local CBS News Anchor Ducks Under Desk During 7.1 Earthquake (VIDEO)

Althouse has it, "'I think we need to get under the desk'."

And at the Hollywood Reporter, "Panic on Local L.A. News Station Following 7.1 Earthquake."

I didn't feel the need to duck, not yet, at least. But the earthquake was long, and I was ready to move if it kept going. My wife said perhaps this lady wasn't from California, and hadn't live through earthquakes. If you're not used to them, you might freak out.

Thanks Alan. Whew! https://t.co/BUJjv0ErzW

— Juan Fernandez (@NewsJuan) July 6, 2019

New 7.1 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks California (VIDEO)

I felt both earthquakes, but last night's was much more powerful. My apartment was rolling for about 20 seconds, but even as it was rolling and rocking, I felt bad for Ridgecrest, because I could imagine how strong and deadly it was at the epicenter.

This second quake was actually a "foreshock" to the Fourth of July temblor.

At the Los Angeles Times, "7.1 earthquake causes damage; more significant temblors likely":

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Southern California on Friday night, the second major temblor in less than two days and one that rocked buildings across Southern California, adding more jitters to an already nervous region.

The quake was centered near Ridgecrest, the location of the July Fourth 6.4 magnitude temblor that was the largest in nearly 20 years. It was followed by an aftershock first reported as 5.5 in magnitude. Scientists said the fault causing the quakes appears to be growing...

More.

Celebrating Our Unique Country's Origins

From Professor Gordon Wood, at NYDN, "What Independence Day really means: Our unique country’s origins":

The Fourth of July, Independence Day, is not just a time for barbecues and fireworks. It is also a time for us to reflect on the meaning of the Declaration of Independence. That declaration is the most important document in our history, even more important than the Constitution. It sums up the principles by which the nation lives. Indeed, it is what holds us together as a nation.

We are a very unusual country, and were unusual even at the time of independence. Lacking a common ancestry, we have never been able to take our nationhood for granted. In America, said John Adams, the country’s second president, there was nothing like “the Patria of the Romans, the Fatherland of the Dutch, or the Patrie of the French.”

Even at the outset, Adams wondered whether a people composed of so many religious denominations and so many ethnicities could hold together as a nation. In 1813, he counted 19 different religious sects in the country. “We are such an Hotch potch of people,” he concluded, “such an omnium gatherum of English, Irish, German, Dutch, Sweedes, French &c. that it is difficult to give a name to the Country, characteristic of the people.”

No wonder then that at the end of the Declaration of Independence, the members of the Continental Congress could only “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” There was nothing else but themselves that they could dedicate themselves to: no patria, no fatherland, no nation as yet.

n comparison with the nearly two-and-a-half-centuries-old United States, many countries in the world today are new, some of them created in the relatively recent past. Yet many of these states, new as they may be, are undergirded by peoples who had a pre-existing sense of their common ancestry, their tribal and blood connections, by which they meant their nationhood.

In the case of the United States the process was reversed. In some sense we have never become a nation, and today, with people from all over the world gathered within our borders, we can never be a nation in any traditional meaning of the term.

In the present this peculiarity of American nationhood, this lack of a common ethnicity, may be our saving grace. It may turn out to be an advantage in the 21st century, dominated as it is by mass immigration from the south to the north and east to west. It certainly enables the United States to be more capable than other countries of accepting and absorbing immigrants.

Of course, America has its own recent problems with immigrants, but these problems pale in comparison with the problems of immigration the European nations are facing and will continue to face.

Because we are not a traditional nation and have no ethnic base, the Declaration of Independence with its ringing affirmation that all men are created equal has become the sacred document holding us together. On the eve of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln came to realize how important the Declaration was in defining the nationhood of the United States, how it had become the adhesive for a diverse people.

Half the American people, Lincoln said in 1858, had no direct blood connection to the founders of the nation. These German, Irish, French and Scandinavian citizens had either come from Europe themselves or their ancestors had, and “finding themselves our equals in all things,” had settled in America. Although these different ethnicities may have had no actual connection in blood with the revolutionary generation, they had, said Lincoln, “that old Declaration of Independence” with its expression of the moral principle of equality to draw upon...

More.

All the Military Flyovers at 'Salute to America' Celebration on the National Mall (VIDEO)

Following-up, "President Trump's Fourth of July 'Salute to America' at Lincoln Memorial (VIDEO)."

Traveling Photo Model Marta Gromova

At Drunken Stepfather, "MARTA GROMOVA OF THE DAY."

Philip Roth, American Pastoral

At Amazon, Philip Roth, American Pastoral American Trilogy (1).

Philip Roth, I Married a Communist

At Amazon, Philip Roth, I Married a Communist: American Trilogy (2).

Sarah McDaniel

At Celeb Jihad, "SARAH MCDANIEL NEW NUDE PHOTO SHOOT."

Some Random Lady Takes Her Top Off at Magic Mountain

Heh.

Six flags wouldn’t give me my picture 😔 pic.twitter.com/OfqxEl6T8Z

— Julia Rose (@JuliaRose_33) June 6, 2019

David McCullough, The Pioneers

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, David McCullough, The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West .

Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power

At Amazon, Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power.

This Guy. I Can't Even...

On Twitter:

Intolerant man harasses people trying to have dinner and is shocked that he is asked to leave. https://t.co/KFvwGIQo0k

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 5, 2019

Not all heroes wear capes. pic.twitter.com/nzXxj4vCWw

— Jay Cost (@JayCostTWS) July 5, 2019

I'm sorry this is hilarious pic.twitter.com/uxcigNHaFE

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) July 5, 2019

'Why do you think Democrats are freaking out because President Trump wanted some tanks in the Fourth of July parade? Because the U.S. military symbolizes everything they hate about America...'

The Other McCain, with his typically incisive analysis, "Happy Fourth of July, You Fascists!"

"Happy Fourth of July, You Fascists!" https://t.co/v2riAw7pOT via @PatriarchTree #July4th #RadicalLeft pic.twitter.com/T9mwJBcvou

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 5, 2019

President Trump's Fourth of July 'Salute to America' at Lincoln Memorial (VIDEO)

At the Los Angeles Times, "Trump’s Fourth of July speech inserts politics and protests into national celebration":

Fourth of July celebrations in Washington usually bring Democrats and Republicans together to mark the national holiday while taking a break from partisan politics.

Not this year.

With tanks on the streets of the nation’s capital, military jet flyovers and a presidential address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, President Trump injected his trademark over-the-top style — as well as his divisive personality — into the traditional fireworks display at the National Mall.

While most presidents have steered clear of Fourth of July festivities to avoid politicizing the day, Trump has been personally involved in the details of the planning — much to the frustration of local officials and residents in the predominantly liberal city.

Ever since Trump’s 2017 visit to watch France’s Bastille Day celebration, he has pressed for a similar event at home. He initially tried to organize a military parade on Veterans Day, but plans fell apart amid opposition from the local government and estimates that the costs would run into the tens of millions of dollars. Even some Pentagon officials bristled at such an overt public display of American military power.

But many of those same ideas were part of Thursday’s celebration, including military tributes and flyovers. And Trump made himself the main event.

“We are one people, chasing one dream, and one magnificent destiny,” Trump told the crowd. “We all share the same heroes, the same home, the same heart, and we are all made by the same Almighty God.”

Despite fears Trump would use the opportunity to push his policies or criticize Democrats, the president stuck to a teleprompter and refrained from the combative language he prefers at campaign speeches and on Twitter...

More.