Robert Service's New Book

At Amazon, The End of the Cold War: 1985-1991.

Oregon State Police Get Death Threats in LaVoy Finicum Shooting (VIDEO)

Death threats have come in from around the country. Unambiguous death threats.

At KOIN 6 News Portland:

'Feminists are women who do not like men...'

From Robert Stacy McCain, "Pro Tip: Don’t Be a ‘Feminist Man’."

"Feminist man" is an oxymoron. Those two things just do not go together.

Pro Tip: Don't Be a 'Feminist Manhttps://t.co/pBoRWe2NPe@DateOffCampus @Instapundit @AVoiceforMen @NoraSamaran pic.twitter.com/HlpEz4yHpS

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) February 16, 2016

"Feminists are women who do not like men ..." https://t.co/pBoRWe2NPe
cc @deanesmay @voxday @nero @AmPowerBlog pic.twitter.com/414tspTBhd

— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) February 16, 2016

Socialism vs. Communism (VIDEO)

Deirdre Bolton talks to Stephen Moore about Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and the Democrats -- on Fox Business Channel.

It's not a rigorous discussion by any means, although humorous.

Frankly, the Democrats are now a Marxist ideological party. You can't talk about socialism vs. communism without talking about Marx. If leftists could nationalize the American economy they would, but the correlation of ideological forces isn't quite there yet in this country. Close, but not quite yet. Leftists, if anything, are patient revolutionaries.

Michele Fiore Speaks to Crowd Outside Federal Courthouse in Portland on February 12, 2016 (VIDEO)

Following-up from the other day, "Michele Fiore, Unlikely Mediator in #Malheur Militia Standoff in Oregon."

Via the Portland Oregonian:



Also, "Michele Fiore takes questions after courthouse speech."

Still more, "'In my opinion Mr. Finicum was murdered,' says Nevada Assemblyman John Moore."

Why Are Men So Easily Turned On Sexually by a Woman's Legs (VIDEO)

Here's Dennis Prager, who goes almost a full 5 minutes talking about the sexual power of the visual without mention the male hormone, testosterone, heh.

That's the key ingredient creating very different sexual stimuli between men and women.

At Prager University:

Review of the 58th Annual Grammy Awards

Interesting.

At the New York Times, "At the Grammys, Big Voices, Pretty Faces and Bitter Truths":

It was a big night for Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar at the Grammys https://t.co/QTHHywynkU pic.twitter.com/HqBxBIOLHM

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 16, 2016

Taylor Swift's speech "will go down as one of the essential kiss-off moments in Grammy history" https://t.co/mfKJE0NwBd

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 16, 2016

The Grammys is an awards show that has all but eliminated giving awards https://t.co/ZINqd3wGi4

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 16, 2016

The show was also atoning for the 2014 snub of Kendrick Lamar, who lost best rap album to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis at the time. Mr. Lamar’s 2015 album “To Pimp a Butterfly” swept this year’s hip-hop categories, and he gave the show’s central performance — although “To Pimp a Butterfly” lost to Taylor Swift’s “1989” as album of the year. (Ms. Swift and Mr. Lamar also shared a Grammy this year for the video of her single that features him, “Bad Blood.”)

Mr. Lamar’s live segment drew on “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright” from “To Pimp a Butterfly,” with Mr. Lamar sidestepping their profanities; it also mentioned Feb. 26, 2012, the date Trayvon Martin was killed. The performance was a vehement, multilevel blast against “modern day slavery” that’s bound for extensive Internet exegesis. It was staged with prisoners breaking chains and African-style drummers and dancers against a bonfire backdrop, ending with the name of Mr. Lamar’s hometown, Compton, superimposed on a silhouette of Africa.

The other flagship Grammys performance was Lady Gaga’s tribute to David Bowie. Orange-haired and seemingly changing a costume a minute, splashed with video effects, Lady Gaga raced through snippets of Mr. Bowie’s hits, mixed a vocal impression of him with her own delivery and hit her marks with dance moves that echoed some of Mr. Bowie’s. She got close to guitarist Nile Rodgers, the co-producer of “Let’s Dance,” who was prominent in the backup band...

More.

Transgender Rights Protesters in Olympia, Washington (VIDEO)

Via Ruptly:

Protesters supporting the Washington State Human Rights Commission's SB 6443 decision that allows the use of restrooms and locker rooms regardless of gender identity were confronted by a counter demonstration opposing the rule in Olympia, Monday. Both protests were held in front of the State Capitol building in the Washington State capital.

PREVIOUSLY: "Poway School Parents Want Unisex Restroom for Transgender Teenager."

Teenager Dies While Trying to Escape from Robbery (VIDEO)

What a shame.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

The teen crashed and hit his head on trolley tracks.

Millennials Unsettle Presidential Race

Seen on Twitter, "Millennial Wave Unsettles Presidential Race."

WSJ's tightened its paywall, and lately I haven't been able to click through on Google. And that means I might have to pay to read their stuff, heh.

In any case, you can get the gist of things with a couple of tweets.

Millennial Wave Unsettles Presidential Race - WSJ https://t.co/VqIzvRA65e pic.twitter.com/eRoALfXbeM

— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) February 16, 2016

About half of millennials—31% of eligible voters—don’t identify with either party. https://t.co/Wt9D7rbyI8 pic.twitter.com/p56lTUc63q

— Gerard Baker (@gerardtbaker) February 16, 2016

Bernie Sanders Campaign Rally at Bonanza High School, Las Vegas, Nevada (VIDEO)

Bernie was fired up, heh.

Via KTNV News 13 Las Vegas:

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - Six days before the Nevada caucus, Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke in Las Vegas Sunday.

The Democratic presidential candidate hosted a rally at Bonanza High School.

Sanders talked about a wide range of topics, including immigration reform, college tuition, minimum wage and health care.

"When mom is out working and dad is out working and the kids are out working, wages in America are too damn low," he said.


Sanders called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

During his speech, the senator projected confidence, remembering how Hillary Clinton was once the overwhelming favorite in the race...

Bikini Model Hailey Clauson Uncovered for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 (VIDEO)

She's lovely.

Watch, "Get Uncovered With SI Swimsuit Cover Model Hailey Clauson."

Some Economists See Huge Costs in Bernie Sanders' Agenda

Following-up from last September, "Bernie Sanders' Socialist Agenda Would Expand Government to the Tune of $18 Trillion (VIDEO)."

At the New York Times, "Left-Leaning Economists Question Cost of Bernie Sanders's Plans":

WASHINGTON — With his expansive plans to increase the size and role of government, Senator Bernie Sanders has provoked a debate not only with his Democratic rival for president, Hillary Clinton, but also with liberal-leaning economists who share his goals but question his numbers and political realism.

The reviews of some of these economists, especially on Mr. Sanders’s health care plans, suggest that Mrs. Clinton could have been too conservative in their debate last week when she said that his agenda in total would increase the size of the federal government by 40 percent. That level would surpass any government expansion since the buildup in World War II.

The increase could exceed 50 percent, some experts suggest, based on an analysis by a respected health economist that Mr. Sanders’s single-payer health plan could cost twice what the senator, who represents Vermont, asserts, and on critics’ belief that his economic assumptions are overly optimistic.

His campaign strongly contests both critiques, defending its numbers and attacking prominent critics as Clinton sympathizers and industry consultants.

Mr. Sanders, on “Fox News Sunday,” reiterated his oft-stated claim that progressive critics dispute: “A family right in the middle of the economy would pay $500 more in taxes and get a reduction in their health costs of $5,000.”

But by the reckoning of the left-of-center economists, none of whom are working for Mrs. Clinton, the new spending would add $2 trillion to $3 trillion a year on average to federal spending; by comparison, total federal spending is projected to be above $4 trillion in the next president’s first year.

“The numbers don’t remotely add up,” said Austan Goolsbee, formerly chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, now at the University of Chicago...

Radical leftists, at Daily Kos and elsewhere, smeared the Wall Street Journal when it came out with its $18 trillion estimate of Sanders' policies in September, but $2 trillion over 10 years would add $20 trillion to the national debt if nothing else changes in Washington's budgeting.

I get a kick out of listening to the old Jewish "democratic" socialist, but America can't afford his agenda.

Keep reading, in any case.

Former President George W. Bush and Former First Lady Laura Bush Arrive in South Carolina (VIDEO)

Wouldn't that be a wonderful treat, meeting them?

Via AP:

Donald Trump Goes Ballistic on Ted Cruz in South Carolina (VIDEO)

Donald Trump just finished up a lengthy press conference, and it was vintage Trump.

He attacked Ted Cruz as a "basket case" and called him the "most dishonest person."

There's brief video at the link, and I'll update with longer segments later.

That once-hyped Trump-Cruz bromance has been nuked, heh.

At CNN, "Trump: Cruz is the most 'dishonest' politician, says Iowa win should be reversed":

Washington (CNN) Donald Trump continued lighting into Ted Cruz Monday, calling him the most "dishonest person I've ever met in politics" and saying the Texas senator's win in Iowa should be disqualified.

"I've been in a business where you know, it's pretty sharp. You meet sharp people, I don't mean sharp like sharp, although they're that also. But you meet people that really go to the edge," Trump told a small crowd in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. "I've never met people like politicians, they are the most dishonest people I've ever met ... I think Jeb (Bush) is just Jeb. But this guy Ted Cruz is the most dishonest person I've ever met in politics."

He then complained that Cruz effectively stole the Iowa caucuses from him by having staff tell Ben Carson supporters that the retired neurosurgeon was dropping out of the race -- which was not true.

"He apologized to Carson after the event, he should have apologized to me," Trump said. "If Iowa had any guts, the people from the Republican Party, they should disqualify him from winning Iowa. I really mean it. Because what he did was a fraud."

Trump has repeatedly called Cruz a "liar" in recent weeks, but he amped up that message Monday, with just five days left before the South Carolina primary...

More.

Bernie Sanders Supporters Outraged Over Deficit in Superdelegates

Democrat Party superdelegates were designed to stop someone like Bernie Sanders. If the voters veer too far to the left during the primaries, making the likely nominee unelectable in the general, the superdelegates are supposed to come in at the convention and right the ship, throwing their votes behind the more moderate candidate.

There were threats in 2008 that the supers were going to back Hillary Over Barack Hussein, but nothing came of it.

If the DNC pushes these absurd superdelegate counts favoring Hillary all the way to the convention, the party's going to be even more screwed than it already is.

At Politco, "Sanders supporters revolt against superdelegates":

Outraged by the delegate deficit Sanders faces even after his New Hampshire win, the senator's backers are taking action.

Bernie Sanders lost by a hair in Iowa and won by a landslide in New Hampshire. Yet Hillary Clinton has amassed an enormous 350-delegate advantage over the Vermont senator after just two states.

Outraged by that disconnect – which is fueled by Clinton’s huge advantage with Democratic superdelegates, who are not bound by voting results – Sanders supporters are fighting back.

Pro-Sanders threads on Reddit have been burning up with calls for action, with some supporters even reaching out to superdelegates (who are typically Democratic governors, members of Congress, and top state and national party leaders) to lobby them on the Vermont senator’s behalf. Progressive groups are also taking a stand: There are currently two petition campaigns designed to urge superdelegates to reflect the popular vote, rather than the sentiment of party elites.

In one of them, MoveOn.org activists are targeting undecided and committed Hillary Clinton superdelegates with a clear message: wait until all the votes are counted before throwing support behind a candidate.

The effort, which will begin this week after MoveOn.org polls its supporters to pick which superdelegates to petition first, comes amid growing criticism from Sanders supporters who complain that the game is rigged in the former secretary of state's favor.

As of Sunday, the petition had 112,107 signatures with a goal of 125,000 signatures.

Super-Ds aren't going to fly in the age of social media. The Dems are going to get creamed by the very constituencies that hate Hillary.

Big mistake. They're making a big mistake.

Deal of the Day: Teeter Inversion Table

At Amazon, Teeter EP-560 Ltd. Inversion Table with Bonus Accessories.

Also, Jawbone UP3 Activity Trackers.

And, PNY Memory Products.

BONUS: From James McPherson, The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era.

Lincoln's Birthday

Abraham Lincoln's birthday was February 12, 1809. Today would be his holiday. George Washington's birthday was February 22, 1732. Next Monday would be his holiday, but the feds consolidated them in 1971.

Allen Guelzo's has a major biograpy of Lincoln,  Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President. Also, from David Herbert Donald, Lincoln.

And from Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years.

Chris Erskine Runs the L.A. Marathon

A very, very lighthearted column on running --- and completing --- the Los Angeles Marathon.

Erskine ran it in 6 hours flat.

At LAT:

Chris Erskine on the L.A. Marathon: there's no thrill of victory, only the agony of the feet https://t.co/sNE9NuAB64 pic.twitter.com/ld6n22Q7QU

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 15, 2016

Could Obama Make a Recess Appointment to Replace Scalia?

"The answer appears to be yes," argues Elizabeth Price Foley, at Instapundit.

This whole episode surrounding Scalia's death proves the country's gone bat-nutz crazy.

Still trending at Memeorandum.