Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Shopping Today

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

See especially, Pelican 1510 Case With Foam (Black).

More, Ergodyne N-Ferno 6802 Thermal Winter Trapper Hat, Black, Large/X-Large.

Plus, Carhartt Men's Quilted Flannel Lined Sandstone Active Jacket.

Still more, Parker 2020376 Jotter Gift Sets Pen, Stainless Steel, Ball Point.

Here, Xbox One S 1TB Console - Fortnite Battle Royale Special Edition Bundle.

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

Also, Samsung UN65RU7100FXZA Flat 65'' 4K UHD 7 Series Smart TV (2019).

BONUS: Charles Murray, Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class.

Lena Gercke

At Drunken Stepfather, "LENA GERCKE SLUTTY PHOTOSHOOT OF THE DAY."

Plus, "Steplinks of the Day."

Rain and Snow for Thanksgiving

Here's the forecast, "Megan Parry's Thanksgiving Eve Forecast."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Is the Thanksgiving week storm approaching Southern California really a ‘bomb cyclone’?"

And, "Rain and snow likely to break California’s most enduring Thanksgiving tradition: perfect weather":

SAN FRANCISCO —  Trolling the East Coast and Midwest with tales of Thanksgiving dinner while wearing shorts under sunny skies is a California tradition.
But this year is going to be different.

Forecasters are warning of a stormy Thanksgiving holiday week marked by rain across the state and snow levels so low in elevation they could close major freeways like Interstates 5, 15 and 80. The storm is expected to bring such cold temperatures that snow may accumulate even on the floor of high-desert cities such as Lancaster, Hesperia and Barstow. Up to 2 feet of snow could hit Big Bear and Wrightwood and up to 4 feet around Lake Tahoe and Mammoth.

The forecast has holiday travelers checking their plans and hosts fretting about whether turkey al fresco for 20 could end in disaster. Just two years ago, Los Angeles sat down to a Thanksgiving feast just after the high temperature hit a crispy 92 degrees — an all-time record. This year, San Diego could be facing one of its coldest Thanksgivings since records began being kept in 1874, with a forecast high of just 60 degrees.

“Everybody can definitely break out their Uggs and Lands’ End parkas,” climatologist Bill Patzert said. L.A.'s high temperature on turkey day could remain in the 50s; San Francisco, possibly in the 40s.

And with rain probably persisting in Southern California into Thanksgiving evening, with a slight chance of thunderstorms, the holiday week might lead to the discovery of new roof leaks.

“Put your water buckets next to your turkey,” Patzert said.

But as you imagine a rain-slicked ride to your holiday dinner or a soggy drumstick, there is something positive to say about the wet Thanksgiving forecast. “This could put an end to the fire season. This is large enough, if it delivers,” Patzert said.

Much of California has been abnormally dry so far this autumn, leaving vegetation tinder dry and threatening to keep fire danger high until rains arrived. Some of California’s most recent destructive fires have hit during November and December while rainfall has been absent, such as the Camp fire that ignited on Nov. 8, 2018, destroying much of the town of Paradise and killing 86 people, and the Thomas fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, which began on Dec. 4, 2017, burning more than 1,000 structures and killing two.

Fire danger continued on Monday, with a fast-moving brush fire threatening numerous homes in Santa Barbara. The Cave fire was being pushed down from Los Padres National Forest toward communities by powerful winds. Highway 154 was closed, and officials were dealing with spot fires breaking out dangerously close to homes. Firefighters are hoping they can hold off the blaze until the rains arrive.

Until this storm, the fall of 2019 has been among the top five driest starts to the water year across Northern California, which began Oct. 1, said Nina Oakley, regional climatologist for the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno.

Sacramento has reported no measurable precipitation between Oct. 1 and Sunday — a parched situation that has occurred in only four other years since records began being kept in 1877, Oakley said. San Francisco has seen only 0.03 inches in the same time period...
More.

Megan Parry's Thanksgiving Eve Forecast

Well, you've heard the news by now, here and elsewhere. It's going to be a snowy Thanksgiving.

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



Dana Perino on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' (VIDEO)

She's really smart, and this is a great discussion.

Obama disses Bernie and Joe.



Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Annie Jacobsen, Surprise, Kill, Vanish

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Annie Jacobsen, Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins.



Revamping the B-1 Bomber for Modern War

A great piece, at the National Interest:


Monday, November 25, 2019

Democrats 'Rethink' Primary Campaign Strategy Around Race and Identity

I don't think they're really "rethinking" things so much as officially abandoning any effort to appeal to working class voters, especially white working class men in the Rustbelt. Frankly, this is like a replay of 2016, but with some scenes re-shot. More identity politics racism. More cowbell.

At Politico:



Jennifer Lopez is GQ's Icon of the Year.

What that means? (*Shrug.*)

At Drunken Stepfather, "JENNIFER LOPEZ OLD TITS IN GQ OF THE DAY."


Sunday, November 24, 2019

Professor Won't Be Fired for Alleged 'Racist, Sexist, Homophobic' Social Media Posts

It's Professor Eric Rasmusen, who teaches at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.


The administration's statement:
On the First Amendment

This message was sent to the Kelley School of Business community Nov. 20, 2019.

Professor Eric Rasmusen has, for many years, used his private social media accounts to disseminate his racist, sexist, and homophobic views. When I label his views in this way, let me note that the labels are not a close call, nor do his posts require careful parsing to reach these conclusions. He has posted, among many other things, the following pernicious and false stereotypes:
*That he believes that women do not belong in the workplace, particularly not in academia, and that he believes most women would prefer to have a boss than be one; he has used slurs in his posts about women;
*That gay men should not be permitted in academia either, because he believes they are promiscuous and unable to avoid abusing students;
*That he believes that black students are generally unqualified for attendance at elite institutions, and are generally inferior academically to white students.
Ordinarily, I would not dignify these bigoted statements with repetition, but we need to confront exactly what we are dealing with in Professor Rasmusen’s posts. His expressed views are stunningly ignorant, more consistent with someone who lived in the 18th century than the 21st. Sometimes Professor Rasmusen explains his views as animated by his Christian faith, although Christ was neither a bigot nor did he use slurs; indeed, he counseled avoiding judgments. Rhetorically speaking, Professor Rasmusen has demonstrated no difficulty in casting the first, or the lethal, stone.

His latest posts slurring women were picked up by a person with a heavily followed Twitter account, and various officials at Indiana University have been inundated in the last few days with demands that he be fired. We cannot, nor would we, fire Professor Rasmusen for his posts as a private citizen, as vile and stupid as they are, because the First Amendment of the United States Constitution forbids us to do so. That is not a close call.

Indiana University has a strong nondiscrimination policy, and as an institution adheres to values that are the opposite of Professor Rasmusen’s expressed values. We demand tolerance and respect in the workplace and in the classroom, and if Professor Rasmusen acted upon his expressed views in the workplace to judge his students or colleagues on the basis of their gender, sexual orientation, or race to their detriment, such as in promotion and tenure decisions or in grading, he would be acting both illegally and in violation of our policies and we would investigate and address those allegations according to our processes. Moreover, in my view, students who are women, gay, or of color could reasonably be concerned that someone with Professor Rasmusen’s expressed prejudices and biases would not give them a fair shake in his classes, and that his expressed biases would infect his perceptions of their work. Given the strength and longstanding nature of his views, these concerns are reasonable.

Therefore, the Kelley School is taking a number of steps to ensure that students not add the baggage of bigotry to their learning experience:
* No student will be forced to take a class from Professor Rasmusen. The Kelley School will provide alternatives to Professor Rasmusen’s classes;
* Professor Rasmusen will use double-blind grading on assignments; if there are components of grading that cannot be subject to a double-blind procedure, the Kelley School will have another faculty member ensure that the grades are not subject to Professor Rasmusen’s prejudices.
If other steps are needed to protect our students or colleagues from bigoted actions, Indiana University will take them.

The First Amendment is strong medicine, and works both ways. All of us are free to condemn views that we find reprehensible, and to do so as vehemently and publicly as Professor Rasmusen expresses his views. We are free to avoid his classes, and demand that the university ensure that he does not, or has not, acted on those views in ways that violate either the federal and state civil rights laws or IU’s nondiscrimination policies. I condemn, in the strongest terms, Professor Rasmusen’s views on race, gender, and sexuality, and I think others should condemn them. But my strong disagreement with his views—indeed, the fact that I find them loathsome—is not a reason for Indiana University to violate the Constitution of the United States.

This is a lesson, unfortunately, that all of us need to take seriously, even as we support our colleagues and classmates in their perfectly reasonable anger and disgust that someone who is a professor at an elite institution would hold, and publicly proclaim, views that our country, and our university, have long rejected as wrong and immoral.

Lauren Robel
Executive Vice President and Provost

Kara Del Toro in Sheer Gown

At Taxi Driver, click through at the link:


Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."

Meanwhile, at Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Fuddy Duddy."

And Theo Spark, "Cartoon Roundup..."

More, via Ben Garrison:



Declining Public Support for President Trump's Impeachment

This is the Emerson poll everyone was citing yesterday, which includes the significant drop off in support for impeachment among independents.

The Democrats are losing on this.


Alex Biston's Sunday Forecast

It's clear out this morning, but it's going to get cold and rainy later in the week.

Here's the wonderful Ms. Alex, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



Instagram Sisters

At Drunken Stepfather, "TWO SLUTTY SISTERS ON THE GRAM OF THE DAY."

Saturday, November 23, 2019

How Republicans Won Phase One of Impeachment

From Mollie Hemingway, at the Federalist:


Alex Biston's Saturday Forecast

It's clear skies this weekend, but a cold front is moving in from the north, with rain and snow down to 2,000 feet in the mountains expected by late week.

Here's the beautiful Ms. Alex, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



Kristin Cavallari Soaks Up the Sun

At London's Daily Mail:


Thursday, November 21, 2019

Sunday, November 17, 2019