I'm Not 'Alt Right'

Here's a quick post to reiterate, in the strongest possible terms, that I'm a neoconservative ideologue, not just any old "conservative" ideologue, or (god-forbid) some new "alt right" bottom-dweller conservative ideologue, for that matter.

While reading Dave Weigel's piece at WaPo yesterday, I followed the links to Joseph Sobran's essay, "For Fear of the Jews."

It's just revolting, but it's not new to me. This Sobran dude's new (to me), but the ideas there are pretty familiar after dealing with disgusting "paleoconservative" losers over this last decade or so. And unfortunately, some of the memes at that piece don't just reflect on paleos but on the "alt right" as well (see Yishai Schwartz, "Banal, Incoherent, Anti-Semitic and Pro-Trump: Why We Should Take the Alt-Right Seriously"), to say nothing of a lot of generic libertarians too (think of the Ron Paul trolls back in 2008).

Sometimes folks have argued that I'm not really neoconservative, but actually more of a straight "conservative." Nope. I see unalloyed support for Israel as a fundamental tenet of neoconservatism (see David Bernstein, "Is Neoconservatism a 'Jewish' Movement?"). Not blind support, mind you (see David Horowitz's flawed essay on that). But unwavering support for the Jewish people and Israel's leadership in the cause of moral decency in the Middle East and the world. I thus always push back against all manner of attacks against the "evil" neocons, which are usually thinly-veiled attacks on Jewish supporters of democracy promotion, regime change, the war in Iraq, and so forth. After the Arab Spring I'm much more careful about uncritical advocacy for democracy promotion, but Israel remains the light of moral decency in international affairs.

Interestingly, all this recent discussion of "white supremacy" and the "alt right" has conveniently obscured the intense racism, Israel-hatred, and ideological extremism on the Democrat Party left. Folks ought not lose sight of what's really at stake in this election. Donald Trump's a good man. Hillary's attacks on him are despicable. She's got more in common with those "fringe extremists" on the "far reaches of the Internet" than Donald Trump ever will (see William Jacobson, "Hijacking of #BlackLivesMatter by anti-Israel activists already has damaged the movement").

There's a lot more to neoconservativism that foreign policy and support for Israel. In my case, I'm a classic throwback to the old "liberal" who's been "mugged by reality." I'm especially neoconservative on domestic issues, points of ideological emphasis that hark back to the 1960s and some of the earliest neocons who helped shape public policy at that time --- folks like Irving Kristol, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Norman Podhoretz (see Justin Vaïsse, "Why Neoconservatism Still Matters").

In any case, one of the things I love about the "neocon" label is how widely you see people on the right attack it (usually this is part of a diatribe against "endless wars"). Although I sometimes get a painful twinge at these outbursts, I just embrace the label as a badge of honor.

So, there you go. I just felt like I needed to get that out, especially after reading that vile Sobran piece.

David Weigel and Matthew Continetti on the PBS NewsHour (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Hillary Clinton to Give Speech Attacking Donald Trump and the 'Alt-Right'," and "Hillary Clinton's Desperate, Shameful Speech on Donald Trump and the 'Alt Right'."

At PBS NewsHour, "Why the ‘alt-right’ is coming out of online chat rooms to support Trump."

I haven't seen Weigel in years. He's packed on a few pounds and grown a "pornstache," lol.

Hillary Clinton's Election Would Mark an Unprecedented Span of Partisan Advantage

From Ronald Brownstein, at the Atlantic:

A @HillaryClinton win would mean Dems win 6/7 prez popular vote. Previous best for any party since 1828: 6/8 https://t.co/bjSc7ebOEM

— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) August 25, 2016

If Hillary wins I expect we might see many more years of Democrat advantage, mainly because of tremendous demographic change. A Trump presidency, on the other hand, might be able to slow down those trends, especially if he's successful implementing immigration reform (and slows down the current hyper-speed rates of invasion from abroad). Also, a successful Trump economy might turn on young voters --- so-called Millennials --- to the Republican brand. Some analysts argue that the youth vote is up for grabs, and thus an expanding economy with increased opportunity (perhaps with some reforms in the student debt sector) could convince large numbers of young people to vote GOP. All of this is speculation, but nothing's decided yet. The election's actually closer than folks are letting on, as evidenced by Hillary's massive hysterical smear campaign against Trump and the "alt right."

It's a Dead-Heat at the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times 'Daybreak' Poll

I've written about this survey before. See, "Hillary Clinton Slumps in L.A. Times Daybreak Tracking Poll," and "Hillary Clinton 'Inching Up' in Los Angeles Times Presidential Election 'Daybreak' Poll."

Also, "The Presidential Horse Race at the L.A. Times 'Daybreak' Tracking Poll."

Remember, it's an online panel survey that rolls over sub-samples daily. About 3,000 respondents participate in the entire survey, and individual opinions change, not the sample participants themselves (and thus the poll's supposed to be less volatile than traditional random sampling). This one's got a lag of a couple of days before you see changes in the numbers generated by campaign controversies. Notice at the screen-cap how Hillary (in blue) fails to get a substantial bounce out of the Democrat Convention (compared to CNN's post-convention poll on August 1st.) And in the past week or so, Hillary's email controversies appear to be taking a toll.


But frankly, I have no clue on how reliable is the "Daybreak" poll, although it's interesting that RCP's average of recent horse-race polls is down to 6 percent from almost 8 percent a couple of weeks ago.

Also, we're not talking about polling in the battleground states. The horse-race is the horse-race: It's a snapshot of national opinion that provides survey fodder for TV talking heads, as well as feedback for the campaigns to make adjustments, etc. Lots of folks are saying "if the election were held today" Hillary would crush Trump in a landslide. But the election's not being held today, and frankly, I think the Clinton camp is extremely desperate in the aftermath of the latest devastating email bombshells. Hillary's speech today reeks so strongly of desperation, it's almost like she's lost her mind. (See, "Hillary Clinton's Desperate, Shameful Speech on Donald Trump and the 'Alt Right'.")

Still, I'm not going to be all like 2012, when everyone thought Romney was surging to the finish line, and polls like Gallup had the GOP ticket at 51 percent on the eve of the election. Even Robert Stacy McCain was all excited about a "silent majority" of voters in Ohio flocking to the polls to put Romney over the top. Nope. It didn't happen. Indeed, the networks called the race around dinner time on the West Coast. Totally anti-climactic. And a real bummer.

So, I'm just burning off some steam here. As always, we'll see what happens on November 8th.

More here, in any case, "Where the presidential race stands today."

Hillary Clinton's Desperate, Shameful Speech on Donald Trump and the 'Alt Right'

I'm actually blown away by Hillary's sheer desperation at this point. The email revelations of the last week must have rattled the Clinton campaign, because Cankles erupted like a blast-furnace of smears, lies, aspersions, and guilt-by-association attacks. She's sunk lower than ever before. It was ugly.

I tweeted my thoughts at the time, just as she finished up with the shameful show of baseless slander:

That was the most divisive, desperate presidential speech I've ever heard. It's Democrats who'll face a reckoning now. Hillary's just ugly.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 25, 2016

.@DLoesch The worst speech I've ever seen. An all-out attack on regular Americans. A cascade of smears disguised as "tolerance." Despicable.

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 25, 2016

And for Donald Trump's response, see Politico, "Trump hits back at Clinton: 'Shame on you'":

Donald Trump roared back at Hillary Clinton's accusations of racism and hate with three words: Shame on you.

Railing against Clinton for smearing and lying about “decent people,” Trump blasted his Democratic opponent Thursday for suggesting his campaign had allied itself with the likes of racists, white supremacists and Ku Klux Klan members.

“I will work to dismantle the criminal gangs and cartels and to liberate our poorest citizens from crime and violence and poverty and fear,” he said at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. “To Hillary Clinton and her donors and advisers, pushing her to spread smears and her lies about decent people, I have three words."

Gesturing at the cameras with his right index finger, Trump intoned, "I want you to remember these three words: Shame. On. You."

Earlier, in his prebuttal to Clinton’s speech in Nevada, Trump said: "Now, I have not seen what Hillary is going to say. But I’ve heard about it. And, in a sense, I don’t want to dignify her statements by dwelling on them too much, but a response is required for the sake of all decent voters she is trying to smear."

Accusing Clinton of being “in hiding,” Trump observed that his opponent “is emerging not to take responsibility for her unethical and criminal conduct, but instead to make one of the most brazen attempts at distraction in the history of politics.”

The comments follow the Clinton campaign's release Thursday of a video featuring members of the KKK and Confederate flags waving, an ad that the Trump team denounced as a "disgusting new low."

"The news reports are that Hillary Clinton is going to try to accuse this campaign, and the millions of decent Americans — at record levels. This was set up — this event was set up late last night, and look what happens,” Trump said, gesturing to the crowd at the rally in Manchester. “Look how many people.

“It's a movement, folks, like they've never seen before. And going to accuse decent Americans who support this campaign, your campaign, of being racists, which we're not," Trump said. "It’s the oldest play in the Democratic playbook."

Democrats resort to “this one tired argument" when their policies fail, Trump continued. “You’re racist. You’re racist. You’re racist. They keep saying it. It’s a tired, disgusting argument, and it’s so totally predictable. They are failing so badly.”

"They keep going back to this same well, but you know what? The people are becoming very smart. They’ve heard it too many times before," the Republican nominee continued. “The well is dry. The well is dry. This is the year the American people who believe in much better and much more honest politics say the word enough. Enough.”

More.

American Renaissance Defines 'Alt-Right'

Seen on Twitter earlier:

This is how alt-right American Renaissance defines the alt-right, from their statement in response to Clinton speech pic.twitter.com/hOy65O383b

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) August 25, 2016

And my earlier entry, "Hillary Clinton to Give Speech Attacking Donald Trump and the 'Alt-Right'."

I'm post something on pathetic Hillary's pathetic speech a little later. I'm taking my youngest over to Game Stop in a minute.

The Latest from Emily Ratajkowski

At London's Daily Mail, "Exhibitionist Emily Ratajkowski shows off her bottom in NAKED hot tub snap," and "Emily Ratajkowski shares an incredibly cheeky Santorini photo."

Also, "Emily Ratajkowski sparkles on the sand as the cover girl for C Magazine."

BONUS: Via Sports Illustrated, ".@EmRata's Instagram account never lets us down."

No, Ms. Emily rarely disappoints. She knows how to work social media with the best of them.

Hillary Clinton to Give Speech Attacking Donald Trump and the 'Alt-Right'

So, this is the big deal for the day.

Hillary's gonna smear Donald Trump and the "alt-right" as reactionary racists threatening a Fourth Reich in America.

Oh brother.

I posted on the alt-right in May, "Trump Trolls, the Alt-Right, Neo-Reactionaries, and Anti-Semitism."

Frankly, the movement's mostly harmless, especially the Milo Yiannopoulos brand. Alex Jones and Paul Joseph Watson (Prison Planet) are pretty harmless too.

I would warn against some of the more hardcore varieties, however, folks that cluster more closely to the Stormfront types. You've got real racism over there, and of course some anti-Semitism. Naturally the media's gonna highlight these latter groups as totally representative of the "alt-right," thus smearing Donald Trump and his legions of supporters. These are the regular everyday folks in flyover America, those whom Salena Zito has been talking to all election season. See, "Stumped by Trump's Success?"

In any case, David Weigel (no friend of mine who blocked me on Twitter years ago) has a background piece up at WaPo, "What’s the alt-right? A primer." Weigel was at the libertarian Reason years ago, but he increasingly moved left. For a while he had that prime gig posting the "Right Now" column at WaPo, but was then outed (and fired) in the JournoList scandal as a pathetic partisan hack who made ugly attacks on opponents of homosexual marriage. (For some reason, WaPo rehired Weigel a couple of years ago, as if nothing ever happened. I guess the idiot got down on his knees for forgiveness, or more.)

So, FWIW, here's this from his piece today (via Memeorandum and Hot Air):

On Thursday, with an unusual amount of fanfare, Hillary Clinton will give a speech denouncing the "alt-right" and delineating ways in which Donald Trump has inflamed racist sentiment. On the alt-right itself, the speech is being welcomed as a sort of coming-out party; alt-right figures are finding their phones and email boxes glowing with new messages, asking to explain who they are and what they think.

While reporters like Rosie Gray, Olivia Nuzzi, and Benjy Sarlin have reported on the alt-right's success for a year, and while the Southern Poverty Law Center has closely monitored its success, the movement remains elastically defined, harboring some terms and personalities that remain obscure or impenetrable. This is a guide — which can and will be updated — to the basics.

'The Camp of the Saints'

A 1973 French novel by Jean Raspail, published as "Le Camp des Saints," which envisions an immigrant invasion of France, and which many on the alt-right view as prophetic. In a 2005 essay for the American Conservative, after riots in France, commentator (and future Michelle Bachmann collaborator) Jim Pinkerton cited Raspail's novel at length to ask why Europe had not realized it was committing "national suicide."

As Raspail describes the scene aboard the immigrant convoy, “Everywhere, rivers of sperm. Streaming over bodies, oozing between breasts, and buttocks, and thighs, and lips, and fingers … a welter of dung and debauch.”

But France is persuaded that these people are a “million Christs,” whose arrival will “signal the dawn of a just, new day.” In other words, Raspail writes, what the French are lacking is a proper sense of national-racial consciousness, “the knowledge that one’s own is best, the triumphant joy at feeling oneself to be part of humanity’s finest.” Instead, he concludes, after having been beaten down by decades of multicultural propaganda, “the white race” has become “nothing more than a million sheep.”

Raspail's vision has been cited frequently at Breitbart News, especially when a major Western leader criticizes anti-immigrant sentiment. "Now, as in the novel, prominent political officials are urging on ever larger waves," wrote Breitbart's Julia Hahn in 2015. "Secular and religious leaders hold hands to pressure blue collar citizens to drop their resistance; media elites and celebrities zealously cheer the opportunity that the migrants provide to atone for the alleged sins of the West — for the chance to rebalance the wealth and power of the world by allowing poor migrants from failed states to rush in to claim its treasures."

Keep reading.

Via Memeorandum.

Federal Reserve's Missteps Fueled Populist Disillusion on the Economy and Political Class

I don't know? Seems like blaming the Fed is letting a lot of people off the hook.

Interesting, in any case.

At WSJ, "Years of Fed Missteps Fueled Disillusion With the Economy and Washington":

Once-revered central bank failed to foresee the crisis and has struggled in its aftermath, fostering the rise of populism and distrust of institutions.

In the past decade Federal Reserve officials have been flummoxed by a housing bubble that cratered the financial system, a long stretch of slow growth they failed to foresee and inflation persistently undershooting their goal. In response they engineered unpopular financial rescues, launched start-and-stop bond buying and delayed planned interest-rate boosts.

“There are a lot of things that we thought we knew that haven’t turned out quite as we expected,” said Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. “The economy and financial markets are not as stable as we previously assumed.”

In the 1990s, a period known in economics as the “Great Moderation,” it seemed the Fed could do no wrong. Policy makers and voters saw it as a machine, with buttons officials could push to heat or cool the economy as needed. Now, after more than a decade of economic disappointment, the central bank confronts hardened public skepticism and growing self-doubt about its own understanding of how the U.S. economy works.

For anyone seeking to explain one of the most unpredictable political seasons in modern history, with the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, a prime suspect is public dismay in institutions guiding the economy and government. The Fed in particular is a case study in how the conventional wisdom of the late 1990s on a wide range of economic issues, including trade, technology and central banking, has since slowly unraveled.

Once admired globally for their command of the economic system, central bankers now are blamed by the left and right for bailouts during the financial crisis and for failing to foresee and manage forces suffocating the global economy in its aftermath.

Populist protest movements called “Fed Up,” “End the Fed” and “Occupy Wall Street” lashed out at the bank’s policies, and in the case of End the Fed, its very existence. Lawmakers of both parties want to subject it to more scrutiny or curb its powers.

David Einhorn, founder of the hedge fund Greenlight Capital, cites the fable of the ant and the grasshopper, in which a famished grasshopper begs a thrifty ant for help in wintertime after failing to stockpile food during warmer weather.

“We had the grasshoppers party from 2002 to 2007 and winter came and the Fed bailed them out,” said Mr. Einhorn, referring to financial firms and individuals who lived above their means. “Now the ants are pissed.”

The Fed’s struggles will be on display from Friday to Sunday when it gathers for an annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo. On issues of growth, inflation, interest rates, unemployment and how to fight a recession, basic assumptions inside the central bank’s complex computer models have been upended.

“I certainly myself couldn’t have imagined six, seven years ago that we would be employing the policies we are now,” Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said to a packed ballroom in New York earlier this year. She lamented the government has leaned so heavily on the Fed to stimulate the economy while tax and spending policies were stymied by disagreements between Congress and the White House.

Many Fed officials believe—and private economists agree—their responses to the crisis helped avert a second Depression, outweighing any unfairness in the bailout process. Fed leaders believe low rates helped, too. “Inflation would be lower and unemployment higher now by noticeable amounts had we not employed those policies,” Ms. Yellen said in March.

Regardless, confidence in the central bank’s leadership has dropped. An April Gallup poll found 38% of Americans had a great deal or fair amount of confidence in Ms. Yellen, while 35% had little or none. In the early 2000s, confidence in Chairman Alan Greenspan often exceeded 70%...

Keep reading.

Heartbreaking Images Show Some Zika Damage May Not Be Obvious at Birth

The New York Times calls Zika a "vicious and unpredictable virus."

Frankly, we know very little about it, and a new radiological study indicates that children inflicted with Zika may face additional brain and body abnormalities as they grow.

Intense.

At the scientific journal, Radiology, "Congenital Brain Abnormalities and Zika Virus: What the Radiologist Can Expect to See Prenatally and Postnatally."

New @radiology_rsna study details 45 Brazilian babies whose mothers were infected with #Zika during pregnancy. https://t.co/Dciw2NCRhm

— Radiology (@radiology_rsna) August 23, 2016

And at the New York Times, "Brain Scans of Brazilian Babies Show Array of Zika Effects."

Zika's calamitous attack on the brains of babies — as seen from the inside https://t.co/8JJug37KV1

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 24, 2016

Facebook's Got Your Political Ideology Algorithms All Figured Out

Another reason to hate Facebook.

The Zuck zombies just store too much information on each and every user.

You can guess how the "Social Network" has me pegged, all the better for malicious targeting and censorship.

At the New York Times, "Which Way Do You Vote? Facebook Has an Idea."

How does Facebook label you? https://t.co/PEBU0tn022

— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) August 24, 2016

Midweek Cartoon

I missed my Sunday cartoon blogging due to partying, lol.

So, check Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."




Also, at Theo's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Can’t Get Up."

#CrookedHillary's Inescapable Cloud of Corruption

Following-up, "#CrookedHillary: State Department Access Granted to Clinton Foundation Donors (VIDEO)."

From Lisa Boothe, at the Washington Examiner, "Clinton's Inescapable Cloud of Corruption":

While many in the media have declared the presidential election all but over, damning accusations of pay to play at the Clinton Foundation and reports that the FBI found 15,000 work-related documents that Hillary Clinton failed to turn over represent the political land mines that still lie between her and the presidency. Multiple ongoing Freedom of Information Act civil suits, perjury allegations, an IRS probe and alleged joint U.S. Attorney-FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation represent the inescapable cloud of corruption that could be the Democratic nominee's undoing.

As the drip, drip, drip of information highlighting the intersection between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department surfaces, the political fallout for Hillary Clinton is unavoidable. The newly exposed emails demonstrate another lie told by the Clinton campaign. Despite her lawyers stating that only 30,000 emails on her server were related to work, the 15,000 puts that number closer to 45,000. But more importantly, it paints a clearer picture of what Hillary Clinton was attempting to hide by setting up private servers in the first place and attempting to wipe them clean.

What is particularly troubling for Clinton is that liberal publications like the Huffington Post and Boston Globe are calling for the Clinton Foundation to shut down. The calls will undoubtedly grow louder as reports continue to expose the overlap between top foreign donors to the foundation and the access it gained them to Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. That access puts into question the impartiality of the decisions Secretary Clinton made while in office and the potential conflicts of interest she would be confronted with as commander in chief. The Wall Street Journal has reported that "At least 60 companies that lobbied the State Department during her tenure donated a total of more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation." And according to the Associated Press, 55 percent of Clinton's meetings and calls with people outside of the government were donors to the Clinton Foundation.

More than 40 percent of the Clinton Foundation's top donors are based in foreign countries, prompting the Washington Post to write, "Rarely, if ever, has a potential commander in chief been so closely associated with an organization that has solicited financial support from foreign governments." Many of those foreign governments have a history of human rights abuses. It is estimated the Clinton Foundation has accepted tens of millions of dollars from Middle Eastern countries.

Emails recently released by Judicial Watch and reports by Fox News demonstrate the close level of communication between State Department and Clinton Foundation officials. Judicial Watch recently released 725 pages of State Department documents showing coordination between Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin and Douglas Band, a former longtime aide of President Bill Clinton and employee of the Clinton Foundation, who worked together to grant access to then-Secretary Clinton for high-dollar donors like Crown Prince Salman of Bahrain.

After failing to set up a meeting with the secretary of state through State Department channels, Salman, who contributed $32 million to the Clinton Global Initiative, went through the Clinton Foundation and successfully set up a meeting 48 hours later...

That's the best summary and analysis of this so far.

Keep reading.

Quick-Thinking Seal Hops on Boat to Escape Orca Hunt in British Columbia (VIDEO)

But how does the seal know that it's safer on the boat. You could have someone up top with a baseball bat ready to bludgeon the hell out of that little puppy, heh.

That wouldn't be good, of course. But who knows? Maybe the seal's got a good track record of hopping up on boats.

Via ABC News:

The Future of American Primacy

The National Interest's got a series running, mostly by realists (those skeptical of aggressive forward use of U.S. military power, especially of the neoconservative variety).

It's worth a read, in any case.

Here:

The Future of U.S. Primacy: Power to Lead, But No Longer to Command https://t.co/jzHtyDKiud via @TheNatlInterest #Primacy

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 24, 2016

* Leslie Gelb, "The Future of U.S. Primacy: Power to Lead, But No Longer to Command."

* Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "Is a Rational American Foreign Policy Even Possible?"

* Robert D. Kaplan, "Is Primacy Overrated?"

* Barry Posen, "The High Costs and Limited Benefits of America’s Alliances."

* Barry Gewen, "American Power in an Age of Disorder."

Personally, I'm not worried about the continued preponderance of American power in the international system. I'm worried about American leadership of the system. That's the key theme of Rober Lieber's book, Retreat and its Consequences: American Foreign Policy and the Problem of World Order.

And see Stephen Brooks and William Wohlforth, "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers in the Twenty-First Century: China’s Rise and the Fate of America’s Global Position."

Tomi Lahren's Final Thoughts on Huma Abedin, Hillary's Bribe Broker (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Huma Abedin, Hillary's Bribe Broker (VIDEO)."

Watch, via the Blaze, "Tomi Lahren's Final Thoughts on Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton's Corruption."

Long Beach Experiences Surge in Crime

Unexpectedly!

And it's not just the Ferguson effect. California's on the leading edge of the "de-incarceration" movement, with predicable results.

And remember, Long Beach is home to some of the most notorious gangstas anywhere in the country. Local hoodlums brag about their Long Beach creds. Snoop Dogg came out with "I'm From Long Beach" last year, apparently trying to capitalize on this city's hoodlum image:

After dark, no hooks, no marks, all Gs
Dip through the Funk House and I graduated with all Cs
So dope and I made bread
Never switching that's some real shit
Stayed down from the playground
And I always represent 20 crip...

In any case, at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Crime spike in Long Beach continues":

Police Chief Robert Luna said his department has been concerned about the crime rate since it began rebounding from historic lows in recent years.

In 2014, the number of violent crimes committed in the city was the lowest in 42 years, but violent crime jumped up almost 20 percent in 2015. That included 36 murders, the highest number in six years.

‘KEEPING US UP AT NIGHT’

“To see numbers like this, I’ve got to be honest with you, was keeping us up at night trying to figure out what was going on,” Luna said.

As crime has increased, so have the number of calls the police department has to respond to, according to the chief.

“We’re working more overtime right now to keep up with the workload,” Luna said.

Overtime is often assigned to a specific location and at specific times to tamp down areas where police see crime trends, Luna said.

The chief also said recent changes in California law have made it harder for officers to do their jobs. For example, Proposition 36 softened California’s three-strikes law. Proposition 47 reclassified a swath of felonies, including many drug crimes, as misdemeanors. And AB 109, a prison downsizing bill known as realignment, put local law enforcement in charge of supervising lower-level parolees.

Luna said he couldn’t directly tie the rise in crime to those changes, but he said he’s “highly suspicious” that offenses started trending upward after they went into effect...

And don't forget the war on cops.

Ryan Lochte Might Not Be 'Lyin' Ryan' After All

Is the dude getting a bum rap?

Perhaps.

But I don't feel sorry for him. If you're out drunk "carousing" at 4:00am in a Third World Country, bad things can happen. Very bad things. He's lucky things didn't turn out worse.

In any case, Melissa Clouthier cuts the guys some slack, "Feel Sorry for Ryan Lochte."

And see USA Today, "USA TODAY Sports investigation raises questions about Rio cops, Lochte incident."

One thing for sure: He's at the tail end of his swimming career either way, and thus his sponsors are making a rational decision to cut him loose. He might repair his reputation, but I'd be surprised if he returns to his swimming glory days of yore. Never say never, of course. I'll give the guy due props if he makes it to the 2020 Tokyo games.

Stanford University Bans Hard Alcohol at Undergraduate Campus Parties (VIDEO)

Think about all those tequila shots you'd be missing, heh.

At Legal Insurrection, "Stanford U. Bans Hard Liquor Over Sex Assault Case."

And watch, at CBS News 5 San Francisco, "Stanford Bans Hard Liquor."

Jackie Johnson's Beautiful August Forecast

Below average temperatures will bring beautifully mild summer weather today.

Here's Ms. Jackie, from yesterday's forecast, at CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Carissa Rosario Jumps Rope (VIDEO)

Following-up from the other day, "Carissa Rosario Working Out (VIDEO)."

Duke Taber: Trump's Changing the Narrative on Illegal Immigration

My last few entries on this are at the "illegal immigration" tag.

But read Duke Taber's comment, at the Conservative Treehouse, "Kellyanne Conway is Not Helping Donald Trump – and Perhaps That’s the Plan…":

With over 600 comments on this issue, obviously a lot of people have strong opinions about KC [Kellyanne Conway]. What I am about to say probably has already been said but here goes anyways. I do not believe for an instance that KC’s [Kellyanne Conway's] comment/s were accidental. I don’t think most of you think so either. So the question is whether or not they were intentional for profitable design or nefarious design. The article has landed on the side of nefarious design. That is understandable considering the clients KC [Kellyanne Conway] has represented in the past. I couldn’t stand “wolf in sheep’s clothing” Cruz.

However, I just don’t see this as something of nefarious design...

Keep reading.

Bruce Dickson, The Dictator's Dilemma [BUMPED]

This book looks awesome!

At Amazon, Bruce Dickson, The Dictator's Dilemma: The Chinese Communist Party's Strategy for Survival.

The Shortest Book Tour Ever? Ann Coulter's, In Trump We Trust

Heh, that's funny.

At Hot Air, "“This could be the shortest book tour ever”: Yes, there’s one Trump fan who’ll be unhappy if he flips on deportation."

Here's the video, "Ann Coulter Makes the Case for Trump - Hardball (MSNBC)."

Yeah, Trump's purported flip on immigration does put Coulter in a bind, but she's consistent, in any case. According to Hot Air, so far she's the only hard-line Trump backer willing to criticize the nominee.

And at Amazon, in any case, Ann Coulter, In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!

PREVIOUSLY: "Donald Trump Lays Out His Plan to Combat Illegal Immigration (VIDEO)."

Donald Trump Lays Out His Plan to Combat Illegal Immigration (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Can Donald Trump Deport 11 Million Illegal Aliens? (VIDEO)."

From Hannity's town hall last night:

Can Donald Trump Deport 11 Million Illegal Aliens? (VIDEO)

If anyone doubts my bona fides on illegal immigration, just review my archives, or check "Immigrants and Socialists March Against SB 1070 in Phoenix."

I fucking hate illegal immigration.

That out of the way, I'm skeptical that we'd be able to pull off mass deportation. I'm skeptical for a variety of reasons. It's not the cost that bothers me (we can afford it), it's the visuals. Not only would mass deportation take on police state optics on an industrial scale, we'd have the radical left sabotaging efforts to the point of domestic terrorism. It could possibly foment civil war. Just look at the Costa Mesa and Sacramento Donald Trump rallies for an idea of the kind of dregs who'd take to the streets. Ask yourself if you're ready to crush a leftist insurgency, because that's what it'd be like. That's how far things have gone in this country.

In any case, at the Los Angeles Times, "Can Donald Trump really round up and deport 11 million people?":

At rallies and debates over the last year, Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to round up and deport the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally, sometimes saying he would eject them all in two years.

Over the last four days, however, the GOP presidential nominee and his top aides have issued contradictory signals as to whether Trump is backing off that core campaign pledge.

Aides have not said if Trump’s plan is under review because it appears politically unpalatable with moderate Republicans, or because forced deportations of millions of people would be prohibitively expensive and probably logistically impossible.

For now, the campaign has yet to provide specifics on how mass removals would be carried out, who would be targeted, and how much it would cost.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 235,413 people last year, down from a record high of 409,849 in 2012, according to ICE records.

The fall-off followed the Obama administration’s efforts to target individuals who threaten public safety or national security and not deport those with clean records and strong family ties in the U.S.

Independent groups have expressed widespread skepticism that a Trump administration could dramatically ramp up that process without disrupting key sectors of the economy, tearing apart millions of families and violating civil liberties on a mass scale.

In May, a report by the right-leaning think tank American Action Forum estimated that finding, detaining, legally processing and deporting everyone who is in the country illegally would cost up to $300 billion.

To meet Trump’s two-year goal, the report said, Congress would need to appropriate money to hire, train and field about 90,000 immigration apprehension agents — up from 5,000 Enforcement and Removal Operations officers today.

The government also would need to build about 1,250 immigration courts — there now are 57 such courts — and hire thousands more immigration judges and federal attorneys to process the caseload.

The think tank estimates that the lost labor and purchasing power of 11 million people — many of whom work, own businesses and pay taxes — could reduce the nation’s gross domestic product by $1 trillion, equal to about $9,000 per household.

Moreover, finding millions of undocumented migrants almost certainly would entail immigration agents entering homes, raiding businesses and operating roadblocks to check identity papers to separate U.S. citizens and approved immigrants from those in the country illegally, a winnowing-out process that undoubtedly would be challenged in court.

“You will really have to tear up the social fabric to get this done,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, head of the nonprofit think tank...

Still more.

'Killing Me Softly'

Y'all can be bumpin' to this one.

From the Fugees.



BONUS: "Fugees & Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly (Movie Awards)."

'Dough Nation' — New Revelations Show Hillary Clinton Put Access Up for Sale

Following-up, "#CrookedHillary: State Department Access Granted to Clinton Foundation Donors (VIDEO)."

At the New York Post:

Tomorrow's cover story: New revelations show a nation for sale under Hillary https://t.co/lHvTEriC5h pic.twitter.com/8Tb7HShon4

— New York Post (@nypost) August 24, 2016

Huma Abedin, Hillary's Bribe Broker (VIDEO)

Following-up, "#CrookedHillary: State Department Access Granted to Clinton Foundation Donors (VIDEO)."

From Matthew Vadum, at FrontPage Magazine, "Strong evidence of Hillary and Huma’s pay-to-play conspiracy emerges in new email dump."

Kelly Brook Fans Celebrate Her Curves

Well, I used to celebrate her curves. Now I'm lamenting her splurge.

She needs to get back on a diet. At some point, all that heft isn't attractive. Since when has she been selling herself as a plus-size model? Ashley Graham's got that celebrity top-spot nailed down, and she makes no apologies about it.

In any case, at the Sun U.K., "'THEY'RE GETTING BIGGER!' — Kelly Brook fans celebrate her curves as they speculate the buxom stars breasts are larger than ever before: The 36-year-old showed off her assets wearing a skintight striped dress."

PREVIOUSLY: "Wow! Kelly Brook is Packing on the Pounds!", and "Kelly Brook Goes for a Bike Ride."

Bubba Crony James Carville: 'Somebody is Going to Hell' Over Clinton Foundation Attacks (VIDEO)

Following-up, "#CrookedHillary: State Department Access Granted to Clinton Foundation Donors (VIDEO)."

Carville's delusional.

At Politico, "Carville: 'Somebody is going to hell' over Clinton Foundation attacks."

#CrookedHillary: State Department Access Granted to Clinton Foundation Donors (VIDEO)

It's never ending.

Crooked Hillary's email scandal keeps dropping into the news, with new emails coming to light, from new iterations of freedom of information requests.

Here's the big Associated Press story up right now at Memeorandum, "MANY DONORS TO CLINTON FOUNDATION MET WITH HER AT STATE":

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money - either personally or through companies or groups - to the Clinton Foundation. It's an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president...

A.P.'s Stephen Braun discusses the story at the video here.

Plus, at Washington Free Beacon, "ABC: State Dept Access Given to Clinton Foundation Donors ‘Precisely What She Said She Would Not Do’."

That piece discusses the story by ABC News investigation reporter Brian Ross. Here's the video, "Clinton Foundation: Did Donors Get Special Access?"

More at Memoeorandum.

The Unconscionable Legacy of the 2016 Olympic Games — #ThirdWorldGames

At Vice Sports, "THE RIO GAMES WERE AN UNJUSTIFIABLE HUMAN DISASTER, AND SO ARE THE OLYMPICS." (Hat Tip: Mina Kimes.)

I don't think I watched any more after Tuesday night. Once most of the marquee track events were done, I tuned out. Then of course you had the news of that idiot lyin' Ryan Lochte. I hope he's banned from the sport. He only took one gold anyway, and that was on a team relay. He's washed up, in more ways than one.

And as you recall, my hashtag's been #ThirdWorldGames, and for good reason.

In any case, from the article:

More than anything else, what surprised me during my first Olympics was the sheer scale of the bubble the IOC has made for itself. After arriving at the airport, members and assorted apparatchiks were ushered into private cars, ferried along exclusive highway lanes—look out the window, and there were Rio 2016-branded walls to mask the favelas—and dropped off at their exclusive hotels ringed by security, so only those with credentials could enter. They then took the same private cars to all of their events. Some even got motorcades. Once they got to the various sports venues, they went in the Olympic Family entrances, passed through the Olympic Family security lines, mingled in the Olympic Family club lounges, and watched athletes compete from the Olympic Family seats. When they were hungry, they surely put their $900 per diems to use at the city's most exclusive restaurants and bars, never risking having to interact with anyone who wasn't wealthy. Except, perhaps, for the people serving them.

Yes, the Olympic Bubble is so all-encompassing that the IOC has convinced itself that it doesn't exist. "These games have not been organized in a bubble," IOC President Thomas Bach told reporters on Saturday as he made other demonstrably false claims, such as the Games not using any public money and Brazilians being "united behind these Olympic Games" despite the fact that half of them weren't. Bach ended his press conference by no-commenting almost every question, but adding that if the Olympics can happen in Rio, they can happen anywhere.

Putting aside Bach's sportocrat snobbery, there is a critical lesson here. The Olympic Bubble's comprehensiveness illustrates just how little the IOC is concerned with anyone but themselves—and how blithely, even happily indifferent the entire Olympic "movement" is to the waste and corruption it fosters, and the human wreckage it leaves in its wake...

Rather than bring development and prosperity, the games will increase economic inequality and social division.

More at that top link.

Out Today: Ann Coulter, In Trump We Trust

The moment you've all been waiting for, I'm sure.

At Amazon, Ann Coulter, In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!

Forget About an Electoral Landslide in 2016

I love going on 270-to-Win in my classes, showing students blowout Electoral College victories, like Richard Nixon's massive destruction of George McGovern in 1972. The map's almost hilariously red.

But then I tell students we don't get those kind of blowouts these days. The country's been pretty clearly divided between party strongholds for almost twenty years. I'll tell you though, unless Donald Trump really makes up some big gains in the key battlegrounds, the Democrats might well expand their map this year.

Still, though, it's not likely to be blowout.

See the New York Times, "Think the Clinton-Trump Race Will Be a Landslide? Hold Your Horses":

Will Trump lose in a landslide? It's been 32 years since a presidential candidate lost by double digits. https://t.co/12skQvayDO

— Jeremy W. Peters (@jwpetersNYT) August 23, 2016

Donald J. Trump, after weeks of self-inflicted damage, has seen support for his candidacy in national polls dip into the 30s — Barry Goldwater and Walter F. Mondale territory — while Hillary Clinton has extended her lead to double digits in several crucial swing states.

Time to declare a landslide, right? Not so fast.

The vote may be more favorable to Mr. Trump than the worst-case-scenario prognosticators suggest for a very simple reason: Landslides do not really happen in presidential elections anymore.

It has been 32 years since a president won the popular vote by a double-digit percentage. That was when Mr. Mondale suffered an 18-point defeat to Ronald Reagan in 1984. It was also the last time there was a landslide among states, with Mr. Mondale winning only Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

There are a variety of factors that are likely to prevent a candidate today from rallying the huge, 60-plus-point majorities that swept Franklin D. Roosevelt into office in 1936, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and Richard M. Nixon in 1972.

The country is too fragmented and its political temperature too overheated for any single person to emerge as a consensus choice for anything nearing two-thirds of the electorate. And that climate has led the political parties to become far more ideologically uniform than they used to be.

“The biggest difference between today and say, 1936 or 1964, is the composition of the two parties,” said Jonathan Darman, author of the book “Landslide: LBJ and Ronald Reagan at the Dawn of a New America.” Party identification used to be more fluid, making it less difficult for partisan voters to conceive of supporting someone of the opposite affiliation.

“The Republican and Democratic parties were much more heterogeneous than the parties we have today,” Mr. Darman added. “Party identification had a lot more to do with regional ties and family traditions than ideology.”

Keep reading.

The Beach Has Long Been a Powerful Symbol of French National Identity

Hey, I can dig it.

The beach has long been a symbol of American national identity too. And so far, I've yet to see any Muslim burkini babes hitting the breakers, heh.

But check out Foreign Policy. I'll take Ms. Bardot any day, lol.

.@LouiseMensch Brigitte Bardot vs. the Burkini https://t.co/OM0RtIcsIH #France #BurkiniBan #Jihad

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 23, 2016

PREVIOUSLY: "Extreme Veiling is Misogynist Hate Speech."

Vogue Cover Girl Kendall Jenner Shares Swimsuit Outtake

Fans were reportedly "furious" by Kendall Jenner's cover for Vogue's September issue, although the "Momager" wasn't.

.@KendallJenner stars on our September issue! Full story: https://t.co/YPaGu8oLAE Get the issue early on @Amazon. pic.twitter.com/obqQjUbY31

— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) August 11, 2016

Here's a fleshy shot at Kendall's page, and at Daily Mail, "Too cheeky for Anna Wintour? Kendall Jenner posts steamy swimsuit picture that didn't make the cut for her Vogue September."

Vox Day, Cuckservative [BUMPED]

At Amazon, Cuckservative: How Conservatives Betrayed America.

BONUS: Also from Vox Day, SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police.

Andrea Tantaros Sues Fox News, Alleging the Network 'Operates Like a Sex-Fueled, Playboy Mansion-Like Cult Steeped in Intimidation...'

She was my favorite lady over there at Fox. I've been missing her on "Outnumbered." No one provides more concise, penetrating, and morally powered clarity on the issues.

At the New York Times, "Andrea Tantaros of Fox News Claims Retaliation for Sex Harassment Complaints."



Previously, "Fox News Pulls 'Outnumbered' Star Andrea Tantaros Over 'Contract Issues'."

Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke Reflects Intricacies of Race

Sheriff Clarke made the front-page of the Los Angles Times.

Unfortunately, the article attempts to marginalize him as an oddity and throwback, while lionizing Milwaukee's police chief, Edward Flynn, as compassionate and progressive. Who's right about the cities problems? Sheriff Clarke, of course. Flynn's not even originally from Milwaukee, whereas Clarke's lived there all his life, rose up through the police department from the age of 21, and was later appointed county sheriff, and he's been reelected four times. The dude's a righteous freakin' patriot.

In Milwaukee, a conservative black sheriff clashes with a liberal white police chief https://t.co/OoqdlF7El5 pic.twitter.com/o3ztLrEgGl

— Jaweed Kaleem (@jaweedkaleem) August 20, 2016

Stumped by Trump's Success?

Salena Zito was stoked to see her essay published at the New York Post, "Stumped by Trump’s success? Take a drive outside U.S. cities."

<-- look who story got picked up by the New York Post Stumped by Trump's success? Take a drive outside US cities https://t.co/OTQC3UzNgv

— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) August 23, 2016

'I Got You Babe'

It's UB40, featuring Chrissie Hynde.

What a trip. I found this scrolling around on YouTube yesterday:

Joseph Stiglitz, The Euro

Here's Professor Stiglitz's new book, just out last week, The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe.

It's already creating a buzz. Stiglitz expects we'll see the total collapse of the European monetary union. He's an extremely eminent economist — and a leftist, of course. But it's amazing how this book contributes to the case for #Brexit, heh.

See the review and the Guardian U.K., good for a laugh riot, "The Euro and Its Threat to the Future of Europe by Joseph Stiglitz – Review."

ADDED: Also at the Guardian, Joseph Stiglitz, "The problem with Europe is the euro: In this extract from his new book, the Nobel prize-winning economist argues that if the euro is not radically rethought, Europe could be condemned to decades of broken dreams.

The Compete on Utter Collapse of American Journalism

From Michael Goodwin, at the New York Post.

I'm astonished how good are his commentaries sometimes.

The shameful display of naked partisanship by the elite media is unlike anything seen in modern America https://t.co/Qg4fttLivg

— New York Post (@nypost) August 22, 2016

People Have Mixed Feelings About Shaunae Miller Winning the 400-Meter Gold Medal (VIDEO)

Well, you would think so.

She lunged over the finish, which isn't prohibited, but seems unethical. Did she really win?

At BuzzFeed.

Also, at NBC News, "Rio Olympics: Shaunae Miller's 'Dive' That Denied Allyson Felix Gold Divides Twitter."

And watch, "Bahamas' Miller dives to beat out U.S.' Felix for 400m gold."

How to Thank Your Coach After Winning the Gold Medal in Wrestling

It's Risako Kawai of Japan.

Heh.

Pretty good.

At Telegraph UK, "Japanese wrestler celebrates winning gold by slamming coach to the mat, twice."

When you've just won an Olympjc gold in wrestling, this is how to thank your coach. pic.twitter.com/Y5QIuwOWrH

— SimonNRicketts (@SimonNRicketts) August 19, 2016

Nina Agdal Summer of Swim 2016 (VIDEO)

Following-up from the other day, "Nina Agdal Summer of Swim Coney Island (VIDEO)."

At Sports Illustrated:

Aly Raisman and Team #USA Gymnasts at the Beach in Rio

Hey, I'd be hitting the beach after sweeping competitions, too.

Sheesh, they're hot. And good on them, such great representatives of America.

At London's Daily Mail, "Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and  Team #USA gymnasts have a beach day..."

ICYMI: Alice Goffman, On the Run [BUMPED]

This is a great, great book. And Alice Goffman is a really fascinating woman.

She takes the wrong lessons from her time with the black underclass, but she's a leftist. I'm just blown away at how she could immerse herself so fully in the culture.

In any case, more later.

At Amazon, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City.

Meanwhile, when you have time, grab a beer and read the New York Times piece on Goffman, "The Trials of Alice Goffman."

Kellyanne Conway: Donald Trump's Having the 'Best Week' Ever (VIDEO)

She's a great spokeswoman. I sure hope she's going to help turn things around.

ICYMI, at NewsBusters, "Flashback: Dukakis Led Bush By 17 Points After 1988 DNC."

From this morning's, "This Week with George Stephanopoulos":



Previously, "Kellyanne Conway on CBS 'This Morning' (VIDEO)."

Hillary's Already Measuring the Drapes in the Oval Office

The campaign denies it, but these idiots are convinced Cankles will be sworn in on January 20th.

At WaPo:

Hillary counting her chickens before they hatch. #CrookedHillary. https://t.co/XrxUe0g4sP

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 21, 2016

Donald Trump's Movement is Here to Stay

And this is to the great regret of leftists, like Sarah Kendzior.

At WaPo:

GOP establishment has hoped Trumpism is a passing storm. But it could be climate change. My latest w/ @ktumulty: https://t.co/oXis9vvkwJ

— Robert Costa (@costareports) August 19, 2016

Daisy Lowe in Lingerie

At Egotastic!, "Daisy Lowe Lingerie Hottie."

Also, at Love Magazine, "Daisy Lowe's Best LOVE Advent Moment (VIDEO)."

Deal of the Day: Save on Lenovo ThinkPad T450 14-Inch Laptop

At Amazon, Lenovo ThinkPad T450 20BV000CUS 14-inch Laptop (2.30 GHz Intel Core i5-5300U Processor, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, Windows 7 Pro).

Also, E-Z UP Swift Instant Shelter Pop-Up Canopy, 12 x 12 ft Blue, and E-Z UP Envoy Instant Shelter Canopy, 10 by 10', Blue.

More, Amazon Back to School Event.

And, Kindle 6-Inch Back to School.

Still more, Books - K-12 Teaching Resources.

Plus, Books for Summer Reading.

Here, AmazonBasics USB 2.0 Cable - A-Male to B-Male - 16 Feet (4.8 Meters).

BONUS: From Glenn Reynolds, The Education Apocalypse: How It Happened and How to Survive It.

Germany Also Question Islamic Veiling: #Jihad

Following-up from yesterday, "Extreme Veiling is Misogynist Hate Speech."

I don't like Muslims.

Sorry, not sorry.

At NYT:

Germany, Like France, Questions Place of Islamic Veils in Its Society, via @nytimes https://t.co/vAKR048GdZ

— Qeaus (@Qansje) August 19, 2016

AmazonBasics USB 2.0 Cable - 16 Feet [BUMPED]

Pick up some basic tech supplies at Amazon.

Here, AmazonBasics USB 2.0 Cable - A-Male to B-Male - 16 Feet (4.8 Meters).

Also, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 6 Feet (1.8 Meters) - White.

BONUS: All-New Kindle E-reader - Black, 6" Glare-Free Touchscreen Display, Wi-Fi - Includes Special Offers.

Deal of the Day: 20% Off - Arlo Smart Home Security Camera System

At Amazon, Arlo Smart Home Security Camera System - Five-Camera Bundle: One Camera with Base Station and Four Add-on Cameras.

Also, Deals on Handbags.

And, Energetic Lighting ELYSL-5001C-DS 4' LED Shoplight Fixture, and Energetic Lighting HG84207A 4' LED Shop Light Fixture.

More, Save on Apple Products.

BONUS: From Jeremy Scahill, The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government's Secret Drone Warfare Program.

Lavishly Decorated Ole Miss Dorm Rooms

What's not to like?

Well, for leftists, if someone else is happy, that's a civil rights violation, or something.

At Truth Revolt, "Progressives Offended by College Girls Who Don't Want to Live in Festering Piles of Trash and Slime."

Martin Dorm Ole Miss - https://t.co/TJBVmziKRf #interiordesign #homedecor pic.twitter.com/hk2skoFgW0

— InteriorDesign Today (@InteriorDsgnTod) May 29, 2016

Paul Manafort Resigns

Just a little while ago.

At LAT, "Donald Trump's embattled campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, resigns."

Ryan Lochte Apology

Here's Christine Brennan from yesterday:

Does Ryan Lochte owe Rio and the #Olympics an apology? @cbrennansports says yes! https://t.co/RMYsuxtK8J pic.twitter.com/TWaZIx57VK

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) August 19, 2016

And here's Locthe's apology:

Here’s #RyanLochte statement on Twitter pic.twitter.com/LWIvrLQf2e

— Ryan Smith (@ryansmithtv) August 19, 2016

Hillary Clinton's America

Here's Donald Trump ad spot that's going up in key battleground states today. The ad "will run in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania through Aug. 29..."

Jackie Johnson's Forecast — From the O.C.

It's perfect summer weather.

And it was Los Angeles Rams' Family Day at U.C. Irvine.

Jackie Johnson reports. She says there's a low pressure system coming in over the weekend, which should cool it down a bit.

I'm sure fire-fighters will appreciate that.

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Extreme Veiling is Misogynist Hate Speech

From Louise Mensch, at Heat Street, "France is Right to Ban the Burkini."

Read it all at the link. It's a transcript of Ms. Louise's appearance on Fox News earlier this week with Stuart Varney. (I looked for the video, but couldn't find it.)

UPDATE: Scrolling Ms. Louise's Twitter feed, I see Media Matter's has the video, naturally.

Here, "Fox Guest: Burkinis Are 'Hate Speech' and Promote 'Honor Killings' - Louise Mensch: 'It's Basically Hate Speech in a Piece of Clothing'."

Yep, all true. All true, chaps.

Van Morrison, 'Too Late' (VIDEO)

Here's Van Morrison's new single, off his new album, due out September 30th, Keep Me Singing.

Blue Cut Fire Update: I-15 Reopened in Cajon Pass (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Blue Cut Fire Updates (VIDEO)."

At the Riverside Press-Enterprise, "Blue Cut fire burns into 3rd day, 15 Freeway fully reopening":

The southbound 15 Freeway through the Cajon Pass is in the process of re-opening, the California Highway Patrol reported shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday, after the massive Blue Cut fire forced it closed for the last two days.

The southbound lanes were closed Tuesday at Ranchero Road in Hesperia.

All off-ramps will remain closed, the CHP said in a tweet.

The northbound lanes of the 15 Freeway were reopened late Wednesday night.

For the third day, firefighters continued to battle back the flames of the enormous Blue Cut fire, which has ravaged nearly 30,000 acres of land and destroying about a dozen homes since Tuesday.

The latest numbers released Thursday morning have the fire at 31,689 acres and 4 percent containment, according to the San Bernardino National Forest Service. More than 1,500 firefighters are working to get the wildfire under control...

Also at the Los Angeles Times, "'Erratic' Blue Cut fire in the Cajon Pass more than 31,000 acres."

And at ABC News 7 Los Angeles, "SOME EVACUATIONS LIFTED AS FIREFIGHTERS MAKE PROGRESS ON 31,600-ACRE BLUE CUT FIRE."

John Prados, Storm Over Leyte

I'm overloaded with reading right now, and my fall semester's starting on the 29th, but this book looks excellent.

At Amazon, John Prados, Storm Over Leyte: The Philippine Invasion and the Destruction of the Japanese Navy.

I've Finished Robert J. Lieber's, Retreat and its Consequences

Following-up from previously, "A Defense Strategy for the New Administration."

Thornberry and Krepinevich reminded me that I've finished Robert Lieber's excellent new book, Retreat and its Consequences: American Foreign Policy and the Problem of World Order.

I particularly enjoyed Lieber's discussion of Europe, which is found in chapter 2, "Burden sharing with Europe: problems of capability and will." Lieber has a comparativist's grasp of the internal politics of the leading European nation-states, and his analysis of Germany's role, and Germany's realpolitik within the E.U., is both perceptive and troubling. Berlin advances a very hard-line against weaker E.U. members, like Greece, while at the same time pushing utopian schemes like Merkel's refugee policy, that end up forcing a second blow against the peripheral states, poorer regimes that must bear the extreme costs of the central E.U.'s "enlightened humanitarianism."

The chapters on Middle East politics and the BRICS are also excellent, especially the latter's discussion of BRIC free-riding off America's hegemonic leadership in power politics and international institutions. You'll find yourself infuriated at times as you plow through this chapter, especially because current U.S. leadership --- folks so committed to their own idealistic policies, like the Obama administration's climate change agenda --- is getting thrown under the bus of the world system's multilateral collective action problem.

It's a stunning eye-opener for those worried about the direction of U.S. foreign policy and America's continued primacy.

But like I said previously, "America will lead again, in both word and power. It's just a matter of the political dynamics." My hope, of course, is that the pendulum of preponderance swings back to favor American interests sooner rather than later.

In any case, Lieber's Retreat and its Consequences is a crackling good offering by a master of sweeping foreign policy analysis. The book would do well in either graduate or undergraduate courses in international politics or U.S. foreign policy. And frankly, it's just a good summer sparkler for the general reader as well.

A Defense Strategy for the New Administration

From Mac Thornberry and Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr., at Foreign Affairs, "Preserving Primacy":

Should the United States fail to protect the global commons, no like-minded power will take its place. https://t.co/Kdh1RRWAIX

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) August 18, 2016

The next U.S. president will inherit a security environment in which the United States con­fronts mounting threats with increasingly constrained resources, diminished stature, and growing uncertainty both at home and abroad over its willingness to protect its friends and its interests. Revisionist powers in Europe, the western Pacific, and the Persian Gulf—three regions long considered by both Democratic and Republican administrations to be vital to U.S. national security—are seeking to overturn the rules-based international order. In Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin has seized Crimea, waged proxy warfare in eastern Ukraine, and threatened NATO allies on Russia’s periphery. Further demonstrating its newfound assertiveness, Russia has dispatched forces to Syria and strength­ened its nuclear arsenal. After a failed attempt to “reset” relations with Moscow, U.S. President Barack Obama has issued stern warnings and imposed economic sanctions, but these have done little to deter Putin.

Nor has the administration’s “pivot” to Asia, now five years on, been matched by effective action. China continues to ramp up its military spending, investing heavily in weapons systems designed to threaten U.S. forces in the western Pacific. As a result, it is proving increas­ingly willing and able to advance its expansive territorial claims in the East China and South China Seas. Not content to resolve its disputes through diplomacy, Beijing has militarized them, building bases on natural and artificially created islands. The United States has failed to respond vigorously to these provocations, causing allies to question its willingness to meet its long-standing security commitments.

The lack of U.S. leadership is also fueling instability in the Middle East. In Iraq, the Obama administration forfeited hard-won gains by withdrawing all U.S. forces, creating a security vacuum that enabled the rise of both Iranian influence and the Islamic State, or ISIS. Adding to its strategic missteps, the administration fundamentally misread the character of the Arab Spring, failing to appreciate that the uprisings would provide opportunities for radical Islamist elements rather than lead to a new democratic order. The administration also failed to learn from the previous administration’s experience in Iraq when it chose to “lead from behind” in Libya, intervening to over­throw Muammar al-Qaddafi, only to declare victory and abandon the country to internal disorder. It then drew a “redline” over President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria but failed to act to enforce it. The result is growing instability in the Middle East and a decline in U.S. influence.

The threat of Islamist terrorism has grown on the Obama administration’s watch. Al Qaeda and ISIS, both Sunni groups, have gained new footholds in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and even West Africa. Obama’s negotiations with Iran, the home of radical Shiite Islamism, have not curbed the country’s involvement in proxy wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen or its support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories. What the talks did produce—the nuclear deal—may slow Tehran’s march to ob­taining a nuclear weapon, but it also gives the regime access to tens of billions of dollars in formerly frozen assets. The ink on the agreement was barely dry when, in March, Tehran tested ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, in blatant defiance of a UN Security Council resolution. Adding to all this instability, military competition has expanded into the relatively new domains of outer space and cyberspace—and will eventually extend to undersea economic infrastructure, as well.

With the current approach failing, the next president will need to formulate a new defense strategy. It should include three basic elements: a clear statement of what the United States seeks to achieve, an understanding of the resources available for those goals, and guidance as to how those resources will be used. The strategy laid out here, if properly implemented, will allow the United States to preclude the rise of a hegemonic power along the Eurasian periphery and preserve access to the global commons—without bankrupting the country in the process...

Sounds great.

Frankly, I'm not worried about the U.S. maintaining its material preponderance, even with China supposedly "catching up."

It's that we need robust, non-politically correct leadership. Global preponderance is a state of mind as well as an objective reality. I'd argue that President Barack Hussein wanted to chop the U.S. down to size, to attack U.S. global hegemony at home, for ideological reasons. He's still doing with his appeasement and apology tours.

America will lead again, in both word and power. It's just a matter of the political dynamics. A Hillary Clinton administration's just going to be four more years of Obama's failed policies. But the pendulum is going to swing back to American exceptionalism at some point. Of that I remain optimistic.

But keep reading, in any case.

Dafne Schippers, the Great White Hope

This woman is seriously bad-ass.

She beats all the black-African runners, which is mind-boggling to me.

Well, she almost beat Elaine Thompson last night, but she stumbled out of the blocks, then stumbled and rolled over the finish line after pushing enormous exertion to finish just a 10th of a second behind the winning time, taking the silver in the 200 meters. It was astonishing.

Either she's amped up on 'roids or the black chicks now have slower times because effective PED regulations and enforcement.

Either way, Schippers is the new Great White Hope of humanity.

At the Netherlands Times, "DUTCH SPRINTER DAFNE SCHIPPERS DISPLEASED WITH 200-METER SILVER MEDAL":

Dafne Schippers
Netherlands 🇳🇱
Sprinter
Twitter: @dafneschippers
Insta: dafne_schippers#Rio2016 #OnesToWatch pic.twitter.com/aTGCp8lLnP

— Telly Lad (@TellyLad) August 5, 2016

The Dutch athlete is disappointed in second place. “I hate this very much. I came here to get gold, and I didn’t do that”, she said to broadcaster NOS after the race. “I can’t enjoy this. Horrible.”

Thompson finished with a time of 21.78 seconds, Schippers finished at 21.88 seconds. Third place went to American Tori Bowie.

Also, from last week, at USA Today, "New kid in blocks: Dutch sprinter Dafne Schippers eyes gold."

The 'Bitch' Presidency

Radical feminists are worked up in a lather over the coming wave of "misogynist" attacks on Hillary Clinton as she (if she) assumes the presidency.

The argument's basically suggesting all the racist Islamophobic truther attacks on Obama squared.

See Michelle Cottle, at the Atlantic, for some epic lulz:

I'm thinking a Trump-Ailes union bodes ill for the ladies in general. Unless you happen to like dirty old men https://t.co/XlfLiOfcOO

— Michelle Cottle (@mcottle) August 17, 2016