Father of 9-Year-Old Bat Boy Kaiser Carlile Speaks to Media (VIDEO)

An unbelievably sad story, at the Wichita Eagle, "Chad Carlile spoke about his son Kaiser during a press conference on Monday."

Also, "Kaiser Carlile was the spark plug behind Liberal Bee Jays baseball."

And at Memeorandum, "NBC World Series suspends use of bat boys after death of Kaiser Carlile."

Plus, at KWCH 12 News Wichita, "Teammates remember bat boy killed in on-field accident: Players rallying around Carlile family."

At 26 Percent, Donald Trump Holds 2-to-1 Lead Over Jeb Bush in Latest Monmouth University Poll

Jeez, he's got a 2-to-1 margin over his closest rivals.

Some experts are conceding that Trump could win the nomination.

At Monmouth's page, "NATIONAL: TRUMP WIDENS LEAD: GOP voters prefer two split-field debates over a “Top Ten”":

West Long Branch, NJ – Donald Trump has widened his national lead in the latest Monmouth University Poll of Republican voters and now holds a more than 2-to-1 advantage over his nearest rivals, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. The poll also found that few GOP voters like the idea of a “Top Ten” debate, with many preferring back-to-back debates with the field randomly split in half.

When Republicans and Republican-leaning voters are asked who they would support for the GOP nomination for president, Donald Trump leads the pack at 26%, with Jeb Bush (12%) and Scott Walker (11%) following behind. The remainder of the “top ten” includes Ted Cruz (6%), Mike Huckabee (6%), Ben Carson (5%), Chris Christie (4%), Rand Paul (4%), Marco Rubio (4%), and John Kasich (3%). Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry each earn 2% and Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Jim Gilmore each get 1% or less. Another 10% of GOP voters say they still are unsure who they will support for the party’s nomination.

Compared to the Monmouth University Poll released three weeks ago, Trump’s support has increased by 13 points. Walker’s support has increased by 4, while Bush and Cruz have decreased by 3 points. No other candidate’s support has changed by more than 2 percentage points, but the undecidedvote went down by 8 points...

More.

Also at Politico, "With debate looming, Trump has huge lead in new poll."

Deals on Girls and Boys Fashion

At Amazon, Shop Fashion - Girls' Clothing.

And Shop Fashion - Boys' Clothing.

Plus, I've finished Bruce Levine's, Fall of the House of Dixie, and as noted, I'm starting Robert O'Connell's, Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman.

And thanks again for shopping through my Amazon links.

Enjoy your summer reading!

Ronda Rousey's Fear of Fighting

Well, she sure didn't seem so afraid on Saturday night.

See the Independent UK, "Ronda Rousey used jibe about her father's suicide to defeat Bethe Correia."

And here's a knockout GIF, "FOR RODDY PIPER. ROWDY RONDA KO IN 34 SECONDS! #UFC190."

And watch, at Sports Illustrated:

Joe Biden Said to Be Taking New Look at Presidential Run

There's a lot of buzz on a potential Joe Biden bid for the Democrat nomination.

But we'll see. We'll see.

At Politico, "Hillary Clinton backers skeptical of Joe Biden run."

And at WaPo, "Sorry, folks: Joe Biden is not running for president."

Still more at the Atlantic, "The 2016 U.S. Presidential Race: A Cheat Sheet."

L.A. Supervisors Call to Ban Raves After Two Women OD at HARD Music Summer Festival in Pomona (VIDEO)

The HARD website is here.

And at KTLA News 5 Los Angeles, "Festival in Pomona Spark Debate Over Drug Use at Raves."

Also, at the Los Angeles Times, "Suspected overdose deaths at rave spark call for ban":

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors should consider a temporary ban on raves on county property after the suspected overdose deaths of two young women who collapsed at the Hard Summer music festival at the Los Angeles County fairgrounds, Supervisor Hilda Solis said Monday.

Solis said she will ask the board Tuesday to explore the prohibition until a full investigation into the raves can be done.

While there have been fewer raves in Los Angeles since a series of drug-related problems at events at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the events continue in arenas outside the city where they still draw big crowds.

Both women -- one 18, the other 19 -- were found unresponsive Saturday at the Fairplex in Pomona, which is managed by the nonprofit Los Angeles County Fair Assn. on land mostly owned by Los Angeles County government.

Los Angeles County Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Solis said Sunday that they will ask for a full probe to see if the event was properly managed to ensure the safety of patrons.

"I am very concerned about these details and will request a full investigation,” Solis, whose Eastside district includes Pomona, said through a spokeswoman.

The annual two-day Hard Summer musical festival has grown in recent years. Last year, attendance was 40,000 people per day; this year’s event expanded to 65,000 a day. It is considered the biggest music festival of its kind in Los Angeles County. Hard has another event at the Fairplex on Sept. 10.


Last year, 19-year-old Emily Tran of Anaheim was rushed to a South El Monte hospital from the Hard Summer music festival held at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, a Los Angeles County-managed park. Tran died from acute intoxication of Ecstasy, according to coroner’s officials.

There has been much debate about whether public agencies should rent out space for raves, given the drug problems.

When raves were held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena, drug overdoses spiked so much that local emergency rooms were overwhelmed with severely ill attendees, and emergency room doctors urged that such concerts end there. Los Angeles police warned that raves invite widespread Ecstasy use.

A Los Angeles Times investigation in 2013 found that at least 14 people who attended raves run by two major Los Angeles-based rave organizers, Insomniac Inc. and Go Ventures Inc., died from overdoses or in drug-related incidents since 2006.

Since then, five more have died in drug-related incidents, including a UC Irvine graduate, Nicholas Austin Tom, 24, of San Francisco, who collapsed at Insomniac’s Electric Daisy Carnival at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in June.

A sixth person, John Hoang Dinh Vo, 22, a UC Irvine biology senior, died in March after collapsing at Insomniac’s Beyond Wonderland rave at the San Manuel Amphitheater, a venue owned by the San Bernardino County government. The coroner has not yet released a cause of death for him.

Beverly Hills-based Live Nation Entertainment, one of the world’s largest concert and ticketing conglomerates, purchased Los Angeles-based Hard Events in 2012. It did not respond to inquiries about the deaths Sunday.

Fairplex officials said they had prepared for the rave but did not provide specifics....

Both women were stricken Saturday afternoon just minutes apart, just before 5 p.m., county fire inspector David Dantic said.

The 18-year-old was rushed to San Dimas Community Hospital and pronounced dead at 6:04 p.m., and the 19-year-old was sent to Pomona Valley Medical Center and declared dead at 8:40 p.m. Lt. Fred Corral, a coroner’s official, called the deaths “apparent drug overdoses” and said autopsies will be conducted in the next few days.

Officials were still working to notify the families of the women. Their names were not released Sunday.

During the first day of the rave, 32 people were arrested, the majority on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, said Pomona Police Lt. Hector Rodriguez. On Sunday, by 6 p.m., an additional 13 had been arrested, he said.

The deaths stunned some ravegoers, though many said drugs are fairly common at the event.

Ecstasy, an illegal hallucinogen, enhances the effect of the beat-heavy music and pulsing lights of raves, and is tied to rave culture. The drug is commonly seen as harmless, but doctors say it is dangerous and can cause body temperatures to soar to 108 degrees, causing organ failure, coma and death.

“I am surprised. It is a little shocking when anyone dies. ... But people do drugs out here,” said Jackie Diaz, 19, of Irvine.

Well, people are going to die. That's the culture we have now. Permissiveness and licentiousness, and easy access to drugs. People will die, more people, and younger people.

Patrick Moore: Why I Left Greenpeace

Outstanding!

From Prager University:

States Should Shun the EPA’s New Power Mandate

From Hal Quinn and Peter Glaser, at WSJ:

On Monday President Obama is announcing the final version of his Clean Power Plan, the carbon-emission rules for power plants to secure his climate-change legacy. The plan is designed to hobble electricity generators much as the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2012 rule to reduce mercury and other emissions has harmed the coal industry.

Fortunately for consumers, on June 29 the Supreme Court slapped down the agency’s 2012 rule. In Michigan v. EPA, the court said the agency failed its legal obligation to compare the cost of its mercury standards with the benefits.

Reckless disregard for costs has also guided the agency’s Clean Power Plan. The White House promises Monday’s rule will offer more flexibility to meet emissions targets than an earlier draft, but the targets may be even more difficult to meet. That will force rate payers into steeper cost increases, and concessions the EPA makes to some states and industries will come at the expense of others.

If the EPA succeeds, Americans will be paying for decades. NERA Economic Consulting estimates that the Clean Power Plan will cost $366 billion and bring double-digit electricity-rate increases to 43 states. Regulators including the North American Electric Reliability Corporation warn that the plan could weaken the reliability of the national electric grid by forcing many power plants to close well before new ones can be built. Yet even the administration admits that the EPA plan will have only a trivial impact on the climate.

The Clean Power Plan gives each state an emissions budget and an ultimatum: Give us a plan to cut your carbon emissions using our assumptions about energy-efficiency improvements, green-energy construction, etc.—or we will impose a federal plan on your state. Never mind that most states have objected to the EPA plan.

Governors thus face a dilemma: Accept the EPA’s invitation by developing a state plan and open their states to lawsuits for any perceived breach, or decline to cooperate and take their chances with a federal plan...

Still more.

Baltimore Reports 45 Homicides for July, Deadliest Month of 2015, and August Kicks Off with More Violence (VIDEO)

And here I thought #BlackLivesMatter?

At CBS News Baltimore:

Mary Nichols, Chair of State Air Resources Board, Pushes to Eliminate Gasoline-Powered Cars in California

Another Marxist-collectivist left-wing nutjob working to destroy life as we know it in California.

I don't know how anyone can live in this state anymore. I might have to retire early and get the hell out of here, sheesh.

At Bloomberg, "California Has a Plan to End the Auto Industry as We Know It":

Sergio Marchionne had a funny thing to say about the $32,500 battery-powered Fiat 500e that his company markets in California as “eco-chic.” “I hope you don’t buy it,” he told his audience at a think tank in Washington in May 2014. He said he loses $14,000 on every 500e he sells and only produces the cars because state rules re­quire it. Marchionne, who took over the bailed-out Chrysler in 2009 to form Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, warned that if all he could sell were electric vehicles, he would be right back looking for another govern­ment rescue.

So who’s forcing Marchionne and all the other major automakers to sell mostly money-losing electric vehicles? More than any other person, it’s Mary Nichols. She’s run the California Air Resources Board since 2007, championing the state’s zero-emission-vehicle quotas and backing Pres­ident Barack Obama’s national mandate to double average fuel economy to 55 miles per gallon by 2025. She was chairman of the state air regulator once before, a generation ago, and cleaning up the famously smoggy Los Angeles skies is just one accomplish­ment in a four-decade career.

Nichols really does intend to force au­tomakers to eventually sell nothing but electrics. In an interview in June at her agency’s heavy-duty-truck laboratory in downtown Los Angeles, it becomes clear that Nichols, at age 70, is pushing regula­tions today that could by midcentury all but banish the internal combustion engine from California’s famous highways. “If we’re going to get our transportation system off petroleum,” she says, “we’ve got to get people used to a zero-emissions world, not just a little-bit-better version of the world they have now.”

In that speech in Washington, Mar­chionne was talking up the little-bit-better option. He touted the improved efficiency to be wrung from traditional engines and gasoline-electric hybrids. But Nichols isn’t scared of auto executives and has never ac­cepted their vision of what’s possible. (Gen­eral Motors said catalytic converters, an early advance in tailpipe pollution control that Nichols promoted in the 1970s, could kill the company. They’re commonplace today, and GM’s not dead yet.)

Even if most people outside California have never heard of Mary Nichols, she’s the world’s most influential automotive regu­lator, says Levi Tillemann, author of The Great Race, a book on the future of automo­bile technology. “Under her leadership, the Air Resources Board has been the driving force for electrification,” Tillemann says.

Nichols, who drives a tiny electric Honda Fit, acts as if she’s an unstoppable force. California’s goals for the adoption of elec­tric vehicle technology are the most strin­gent in the nation, but Nichols thinks they need to be even tougher. Regulations on the books in California, set in 2012, require that 2.7 percent of new cars sold in the state this year be, in the regulatory jargon, ZEVs. These are defined as battery-only or fuel-cell cars, and plug-in hybrids. The quota rises every year starting in 2018 and reaches 22 percent in 2025. Nichols wants 100 percent of the new vehicles sold to be zero- or almost-zero-emissions by 2030, in part through greater use of low-carbon fuels that she’s also promoting.

The 2030 target is what’s needed to meet Governor Jerry Brown’s goal, set in an ex­ecutive order, of an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century, Nichols says. The conven­tional internal combustion engine needs to be off the road by 2050 and, since cars last many years, on its way out of new-car showrooms around 2030...

Still more.

Most Californians Link Climate Change, Drought; Split is Partisan

Leftists are drunk with climate change hysteria.

It's a psychotic break with reality.

At the San Francisco Chronicle:

SACRAMENTO — Nearly two-thirds of Californians say global warming is contributing to the state’s drought, but there’s a distinct partisan divide, according to a survey released Wednesday.

Seventy-eight percent of Democrats said global warming has contributed to the four-year drought, while 62 percent of Republicans said it has not, according to the poll by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

Overall, 64 percent of respondents see a link between a changing world climate and a dried-up California, the survey said.

The blue-red divide doesn’t apply just to the drought, the poll found. Asked when the effects of global warming will become apparent, nearly a third of Republicans said never. Just 3 percent of Democrats and 7 percent of independents agreed.

“There has been a very strong partisan divide among several of the last surveys (on global warming), and that continues this year,” said Mark Baldassare, president of PPIC. “That is driven by the national discussion around climate change.”

The divide was also apparent among Californians who say it’s very important for the state to pass regulations and invest in efforts to combat the effects of global warming, such as flooding and wildfires. Statewide, 61 percent of those surveyed said it was very important, but only a minority of Republicans thought so. Among Democrats, the total was 77 percent.

When it comes to drought-fighting measures that hit closer to home, the survey found strong support: More than four-fifths of respondents said Gov. Jerry Brown’s order for a 25 percent cut in statewide water usage was just right or not tough enough.

On the other hand, people are a bit fuzzy on the details of what they’re supposed to do. The state’s order requires communities to cut their 2013 water usage by anywhere from 4 to 36 percent, but nearly two-thirds of respondents told pollsters they didn’t know how much their area was being asked to save.

“That struck me as a big number,” Baldassare said. “If you are asking people to be part of the solution, they need to know what you are asking of them. Many Californians don’t know.”

Manager Mike Scioscia Says Angels Can Turn Things Around After Losing 9 of Last 10 Games

They better turn things around.

It's looking like one of the worst post-All Star Game meltdowns in history.

At the O.C. Register, "Scioscia believes Angels can 'turn the page' on current streak."

And watch, from MLB, "8/2/15: Andre Ethier leads Dodgers to sweep Angels in walk-off win."

Green Marxist Nutjobs Push Radical California Gas Restriction Act of 2015 (VIDEO)

This is the logical result of politics in an extreme left-wing one-party state.

You won't be able to drive your own car in California pretty soon. You'll be forced onto a completely inadequate "public transportation" system, and you know these green nutjobs won't stop at a "50 percent reduction" in fossil fuel usage.

The once-Golden State is going down.

See the Contra-Costa Bee, "SB 350 — battle rages over proposed 50-percent fuel cuts in California":

Take notice if you drive to and from work each day in California. SB 350, known as the California Gas Restriction Act of 2015, (de León) requires a 50% reduction in petroleum, 50% increase in renewables for electricity generation, and a 50% increase in the energy efficiency of buildings by 2030. SB 350 will also grant the Air Resources Board significant authority to adopt regulations that will result in a 50% reduction in petroleum use in cars and trucks by 2030.

In short, unelected regulators will be able to limit how far you can drive, ration gas, increase costs, and penalize drivers for using too much gas.

Opposed by energy producers and allied groups, a full court effort has been launched by the California Drivers Alliance that is circulating a petition to pressure lawmakers to oppose SB 350 passage.

Radical environmental groups like California Climate Leadership Stemming from the notorious passage of AB 32 during the forgettable Schwarzenneger governorship, SB 350 joins a raft of AB 32 enabling legislation, including SB 375 (emissions reductions), climate adaption (SB 246, 379), plus overarching agricultural restrictions and transit fiats.

In its defense, SB 350 proponents say that SB 350 requires the California Air Resources Board, to be cost effective and technologically feasible (page 4, line 19; its actions be based on validated scientific and engineering data (page 5, line 12); and explicitly requires an economic analysis that takes into account impacts on fuel manufacturers, consumer acceptance, the state’s competitive position with other neighboring states, and the costs to consumers (page 5, lines 30-34)

The campaign on both sides has become nasty and misleading. For instance, an image of Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla appears on a California Drivers Alliance ad on Drudge touting its petition opposing SB 350. This does not mean Bonilla is an opponent of SB 350. Oh hell no. For Bonilla has authored and voted for numerous environmental and energy laws that dovetail with AB 32. Rather, the ad hopes to pound Bonilla with petition from signers within her district to bring pressure on her to — hope-against-hope — oppose SB 350 legislation when it reaches the Assembly floor.

Meanwhile, the Greenbelt Alliance is also asking its supporters to put pressure on Bonilla and other legislators to vote for SB 350.

In one of his first votes as State Senator, Glazer voted for SB 350. Glazer recently defeated Bonilla in a special election for the vacant 7th California Senate seat vacated by now Congressman Mark DeSaulnier.

According to proponents propaganda concerning “renewable targets,” it took nearly a decade for California so-called green fuel sales to grow from 12- to 25 percent of sales. So it is certain that Californians will be reliant on fossil fuels for decades to come, despite the specious claims and data manipulation of climate alarmists is used by politicians and an increasingly unfettered state to bypass voter preferences in favor of increasing central control over the lives of the polity.

In short, a mandated 50% reduction in petroleum will have a significant impact on transportation in California, but also on future jobs and valuable tax revenue. An analysis of the petroleum industry’s economic contributions to California shows SB 350 would devastate the California energy economy in that supports...

Still more.

New York's Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women Offers Course on the Fundamentals of Organizing and Protest

And you can bet these aren't tea party rallies for which they're prepping.

At the New Yorker, "Protest U."

This is a "preparatory academy" for budding Marxists, sadly.

Here's the website.

Suspect Tremaine Wilbourn Hunted Over Shooting of Memphis Police Officer Sean Bolton

Black suspect Tremaine Wilbourn. He's a black mofo.

At the Other McCain. "Memphis Manhunt for Cop Killer."

Also at CNN, "Police search for suspect in officer's shooting death," and "Officer killed during traffic stop."

ADDED: From the Mad Jewess Woman, "Black Male On Twitter: @Bonoboburner Wants to Murder Cops & Make Cops Lives as “Dangerous As Possible”."

Topsy-Turvy GOP Race Faces Busiest Week Yet

It's going to be a good week. Things are going to shake out.

At WSJ, "Republicans buffeted by surge of Donald Trump and pool of wealthy donors sometimes at odds with party brass":

DANA POINT, Calif. — The Republican Party enters its most competitive presidential contest in a generation buffeted by forces largely beyond the control of party leaders, from the unexpected surge of Donald Trump to the small pool of wealthy donors gathered here who are occasionally at odds with GOP brass.

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found Mr. Trump ahead of the field, as the top pick of 19% of GOP primary voters, after generating weeks of news coverage for his incendiary remarks about Mexican immigrants, his rivals for the nomination and Arizona Sen. John McCain, the party’s 2008 nominee.

Mr. Trump’s unanticipated ascent coincided with the arrival of five other Republican presidential candidates at a luxury resort here over the weekend to audition for hundreds of wealthy donors convened by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. It’s a gathering that exposes both the promise and the limits of a new campaign financing system for the GOP. More money is flowing into the race, but the party and the candidates have less control over how those dollars are spent. The contenders also risk appearing beholden to deep-pocketed backers.

“I wish good luck to all the Republican candidates that traveled to California to beg for money etc. from the Koch Brothers,” said Mr. Trump, who wasn’t invited to the Koch meeting, in a Sunday tweet. “Puppets?”

The biannual Koch conference set the stage for the busiest week yet in the nominating contest, with a candidate forum Monday in New Hampshire and the first candidates’ debate on Thursday in Cleveland.

The Koch conference is an unrivaled convergence of roughly 450 conservatives who have pledged at least $100,000 a year to various political and ideological endeavors. Many are also financing individual presidential candidates and the so-called super PACs that support them.

Outside donors are taking on roles once solely performed by candidates and the party, from television ads to voter outreach. The Koch network plans to spend about $900 million in the run-up to the 2016 election, with about a third of that total devoted to influencing elections outcomes. Yet, these donors don’t always see eye-to-eye with GOP leaders in Washington and could prove nettlesome for a Republican president.

The Koch network, for example, sparred with the Republican National Committee over who controls the vast repository of voter data that GOP candidates at every level of the ballot will need to turn out supporters next fall. The two sides recently reached a deal to share information, but the pact gives an entity backed by the Kochs a central role overseeing the party’s data-collection efforts for the foreseeable future. Candidates also rely increasingly on Koch-financed groups to organize their grassroots events.

This weekend, Charles Koch, the chief executive of Koch Industries who co-founded the network with his brother David, took aim at tax breaks and other government subsidies for private-sector corporations. He singled out the country’s biggest banks for accepting bailout money and cheap loans from the Federal Reserve in exchange for giving the government more influence over their business decisions. That stance is sure to ruffle business interests that represent the GOP’s traditional outside allies.

“It is not our goal to supplant the Republican Party, and, in fact, we need the party to be strong,” said Marc Short, president of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the central conduit for collecting money that is then steered to other groups backed by the Kochs and their donor allies. But he also noted, “Our mission is about trying to advance a free society, not about trying to advance a party.”

Keep reading.

'Explosive' Rocky Fire in Northern California

At the San Francisco Chronicle, "Rocky Fire doubles and shifts, but remains a threat to more homes."

Also at the Los Angeles Times, "Northern California fire explodes; 24 homes lost, thousands threatened."

And watch, at ABC News, "Devastating Wildfires Destroy Homes in Northern California."

The Left Wants to Hide the Truth About #BlackLivesMatter's Marxist Revolutionary Agenda

From Lee Stranahan, at Big Government, "WHAT O’REILLY’S BLACK LIVES MATTER SEGMENT LEFT OUT."

Lee shows that #BlackLivesMatter takes its "List of Demands" straight from the revolutionary "The Ten-Point Program" of the Black Panther Party in 1966.



PREVIOUSLY: "Another Reminder That the #BlackLivesMatter Movement is Actually a Revolutionary Communist Program."

New WSJ/NBC Poll: Donald Trump Leads GOP Presidential Field

Here's the report, at the Wall Street Journal, "Donald Trump Leads Republican Presidential Pack, WSJ/NBC Poll Finds":

Donald Trump has jumped to the front of Republicans’ 2016 presidential candidate field nationally, holding that position even after a spate of incendiary comments by the real-estate magnate about Mexican migrants, other GOP candidates and party leaders, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found.

The poll, the latest of several national surveys to register the Trump surge, found that 19% of Republican primary voters picked Mr. Trump as their first choice for president, followed by 15% for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and 14% for Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who led the field in the last Journal/NBC survey, in June.

The new poll, whose full results will be released Monday, was based on a survey conducted July 26-30, after Mr. Trump made widely publicized controversial statements, such as when he disparaged former GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
The differences among the top-tier candidates are small enough that they are within the poll’s margin of sampling error. Still, the double-digit jump among Republicans picking Mr. Trump as their first choice—up from 1% in the June poll—was significant.

What’s more, Republicans who don’t see Mr. Trump as their first choice seem to be warming to him. The share of GOP voters who pick him as second choice rose to 11% in the new survey from 3% in June.

The poll could be a factor in determining which candidates appear in this Thursday’s prime-time candidate debate, the first of the GOP primary campaign. The event is being hosted by Fox News, which is limiting the 9 p.m. debate to 10 of the 17 declared GOP candidates, choosing those who rank highest in the five most recent national polls released by Tuesday.

Candidates who don’t make the cut will be relegated to a separate forum to be held before the main event on Thursday.

The new survey also underscores the unsettled nature of the GOP primary race as Republican voters survey a large field, including many lesser-known candidates. Mr. Trump, who announced his presidential campaign in mid-June, has the advantage of high name recognition, celebrity appeal and a populist message that taps into a powerful anti-Washington vein in the electorate.

The poll found that almost the entire GOP field seemed to suffer at least a temporary setback as a result of Mr. Trump’s abrupt rise. Most major candidates lost ground compared with last month’s poll. One exception was Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who was picked as a first choice by 9%, up from 4% last month. Mr. Cruz, like Mr. Trump, has been campaigning as an outsider with a blunt antiestablishment message.

Mr. Trump had a particularly strong showing among GOP poll respondents who said it is more important for their party’s nominee to be a strong leader than it is to share their views on issues. Mr. Trump does somewhat better among GOP women than do other candidates: 20% of female GOP primary voters name him as their first choice, followed by 16% who pick Mr. Bush.

In the race for a spot on this week’s main debate stage, the most uncertainty surrounds the fate of three candidates who are on the cusp of making the top-10 event—New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. In the new Journal/NBC poll, all three were picked as first choice by 3% of GOP voters...

More.

Plus, here's NBC's write-up, at Memeorandum, "Donald Trump Surges in New NBC News/WSJ Poll."

Why Mark Levin Says the GOP Needs a Facelift

From Diana Stancy, at the Daily Signal.

Click through for Mark Levin's Facebook rant against the GOP congressional leadership.

And buy Levin's book, Plunder and Deceit.