Paul Krugman Wonders How the Presidential Race Could Be So Close

I've been telling my students for a long time that the 2016 election was going to be close.

And I've also been telling them that Hillary Clinton was never going to generate as much youth voter enthusiasm as Barack Obama did in 2008, and I had no idea how well that prediction would turn out (Gallup reported last week that youth interest in politics has cratered since Obama was first elected.)

So get a load out of this post at the Monkey Cage, the political science blog at the Washington Post, "Krugman wonders how the race could be close. Political science wonders how it could be otherwise."

A good piece. Read it all at the link.

NPR Reporter Has No Idea What 'Come and Take It' Means

A great post, at Instapundit, "MOLON LABE."

Hillary Clinton Considered Drone Strike on Julian Assange?

Well, how's Hillary gonna take the guy out with a drone?

He doesn't go anywhere. She'd have to take out the entire Ecuadoran embassy in London.

But hey, it's what folks are talking about.

At the Toronto Sun, "Hillary Clinton suggested taking out Wikileaks founder Julian Assange with drone: Report."

Actually, this was back when she was secretary of state. That's when she'd have been in a position to act on such rants, and that's also why you can understand Assange's assassination fears. Governments kill people for reasons of state, and the Obama administration's been more Machiavellian than most.

Go right to True Pundit, "Under Intense Pressure to Silence WikiLeaks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Proposed Drone Strike on Julian Assange."

I'm no expert but wanting to "drone" Assange isn't exactly #LoveTrumpsHate @HillaryClinton Evil dictator much?💣 #MeanGirls pic.twitter.com/z7sKx7RQ6i

— Black Women 4 Trump (@TallahForTrump) October 3, 2016

Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points Memo: Voting Against a Potential President (VIDEO)

A great segment from last night on Fox News.

I especially liked O'Reilly's dissection of Hillary Clinton's post-debate "gloating."

Yes, that's quite ugly, but that's her. Like Barack Obama in 2008 (and since), it's all about her.

Watch:

Julian Assange Assassination Concerns?

I thought something was funny when I saw this tweet from the Washington Examiner:

Report: WikiLeaks founder won't make announcement because of "security concerns" https://t.co/kPOJ7XTxAH pic.twitter.com/b2qSMAGlt2

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 2, 2016

Since when has #WikiLeaks been worried about "security concerns"? Something's funny about this. https://t.co/FRBZTBuQlk

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) October 2, 2016

So, it turns out the WikiLeaks folks were worried about an assassination attempt in Julian Assange? Well, sounds like a significant security concern alright. But how legit?

At Heat Street:

UPDATE: Julian Assange of Wikileaks To Appear by Video Tomorrow Due to Apparent Assassination Concerns https://t.co/6SFiUQQa77

— Deplorable Observer (@PrivateName11) October 4, 2016

Bill Clinton's Love Child?

I haven't been trolling the web like I usually do, so this story escaped me.

But man, this is frankly astonishing.

At Evil Blogger Lady's, "Bill Clinton has a son? Does Danney get to fly on the private jet just like Chelsea Clinton?"

Does Danney get to fly on private jets to climate conferences? #SonOfClinton #BillClintonLoveChildhttps://t.co/GwTJD74iT8@AceofSpadesHQ pic.twitter.com/J0zg8bG2m2

— Evi L. Bloggerlady (@MsEBL) October 3, 2016

Also at AoSHQ, "Long-Suspected Clinton Love Child Resurfaces, Declaring 'I Am Bill Clinton's Son'":

He looks a lot like him. A lot.

He does. Freakin' a. He does.

Jackie Johnson's Cooler Weather Forecast

It was quite nice today, actually.

I'm not looking forward to a return of that 100-plus weather from a week ago, although it's supposed to warm up toward the end of the week, but not that bad.

Via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

My Mom Gave Me Robert J. Gordon's, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, for My Birthday

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to get this book.

It's a huge tome, The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War.

We went out to dinner last night to celebrate my birthday, and my mom's husband's, along with my wife, my youngest son, and my older sister.

We ate at Las Brisas in Laguna Beach, which has been there as long as I can remember. It's definitely recommended. I was stuffed to the gills, heh.

Vin Scully Calls His Last Game

The Giants beat the Dodgers 7-1 at AT&T Park, and San Francisco heads to New York for a wildcard game against the Mets on Wednesday.

But it was all emotion today when Vin Scully called his last broadcast, and he was all class, as usual.

Bill Shaikin has a column, at LAT, "It's last call for Vin Scully, and Giants could make it a historic one."

And at ABC News, "Vin Scully, Voice of the Dodgers, Gives His Final Farewell (VIDEO)."

A lot of memories of @Dodgers games past, with #VinScully's voice helping me while away my summer days. #LADodgers #SFGiants

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) October 2, 2016

.@lamblock They sang "Take me out to the ball game" at #SFGiants AT&T Park, changing the words to "Let's root root root for the #Dodgers"!

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) October 2, 2016

Dear friends... pic.twitter.com/akgzIU1UdW

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 2, 2016

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."




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

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Pre-Programmed."

Unhinged John Podhoretz Attacks Robert Spencer

Just last month I said that "Commentary remains my favorite magazine on the conservative right."

Well, I don't know how much longer I can say that, especially considering the behavior of the vile idiot John Podhoretz.

See Robert Spencer, at Jihad Watch, "John Podhoretz to Robert Spencer: “You piece of sh*t”."

Of course, Podhoretz deleted these tweets, but the Internet is forever, as they say:

Donald Trump to Attack Hillary Clinton Over Husband Bill's History of Infidelity and Sexual Assault

Charles Krauthammer mentioned that you don't go after these things unless you're down 12 points in the polls. It's too dangerous. It's ugly. The GOP got burned on Monica Lewinsky and impeachment in the '90s. Bill Clinton's numbers were at nearly 60 percent by the time he left office. It's a losing proposition.

Well, after the first debate Team Trump was already gearing up for attacks on Bill's "dalliances," but after NYT's vicious attack on Trump's taxes last night, I doubt The Donald's going to be able to resist.

See this great post at Hot Air, "Should Trump attack Hillary for trying to discredit Bill’s accusers at the next debate?"

And embedded there is Rush Limgaugh's radio segment, "RUSH: Hillary Beats Trump In BULLYING WOMEN, Every Day of the Week."

We'll see. Frankly, I'd be hammering Hillary over this, but like Allahpundit notes at Hot Air, you gotta make it about Hilary's complicity. She bullied women to shut up. Don't make her a victim.

Anyway, FWIW, at NYT, "Donald Trump Opens New Line of Attack on Hillary Clinton: Her Marriage."

The Left's Response to New York Times Release of Donald Trump's 1995 Taxes

My initial thoughts are here, "New York Times Publishes Parts of Donald Trump's 1995 Taxes."

New York Magazine has a good post on the left's response, "Report: Donald Trump May Not Have Paid Taxes for 18 Years."

HRC's campaign tweets:

Trump "apparently got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades—while tens of millions of working families paid theirs." pic.twitter.com/g62jB9fKr5

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 2, 2016

More at Politico, "Bombshell report on Trump taxes sends GOP nominee reeling: It puts an exclamation point on what was already one of the worst weeks for any presidential candidate in recent memory."

Well, as they say, all's fair in love and war, and this is war.

More later...

American Hero Heckles Europeans, Sinks Their Putt, Then Takes Their Money (VIDEO)

Heh.

You gotta give it up for the dude.

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "TROLL LEVEL: SUPREME GALACTIC OVERLORD."

New York Times Publishes Parts of Donald Trump's 1995 Taxes

I read the story online last night.

Exclusive: NYT has obtained parts of Trump's 1995 tax records. He could have paid no federal income tax for 18 years https://t.co/lpSr9M6IwA

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 2, 2016

Here are the pages from Donald Trump’s 1995 income tax records that were obtained by The Times. https://t.co/SFSIzIiSXQ

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 2, 2016

Trump team puts out statement with no one's name on it, unusual since @JasonMillerinDC arrival from Cruz pic.twitter.com/1OiwUYCROs

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 2, 2016

This is obviously scandalous, as evidenced by the leftist reaction on Memorandum.

Whatever sense of electoral possibility I felt last weekend, on the eve of the presidential debate, is gone now. Trump's mediocre debate performance wasn't strong enough to overcome the left's ceaseless smears and attacks. The surge in polling Trump was enjoying has stalled. And now, with just over another week until the second debate, the campaign's going to be focused on Donald Trump's taxes rather than how much farther down the Democrats will take the country into the rat hole. And it's the Old Gray Lady who broke the news. I mean, it's too perfect. The newspaper's entire organization, from top to bottom, has been intent to take down The Donald, going so far as announcing that the traditional "objective" standards of old-fashioned press reporting no longer applies. Reporters are free to write "A-section" news reports as if they were op-ed pieces. If the election's still close a couple of weeks from now it'll be a miracle.

Expect updates.

ADDED: I forgot to mention that Donald Trump's done nothing wrong. There's no claim of law-breaking or illegality. New York Times leftists want to paint Trump as a plutocrat scofflaw out to stiff the average Joe. They also want to portray him as a loser in business, who passes the costs of his business loses onto the average schmuck. If folks remember how the left destroyed Mitt Romney in 2012, especially with the secret "47 percent" video, then you'll have a sense of how leftists will play it. The only difference this year is that Obama's not on the ballot, and the Clinton Foundation scam, and Hillary's endless email scandal, should be the bigger controversies. But we're dealing with neo-Marxist collectivists who'll do anything to win. Anything. No lie. No Alinskyite tactic. Nothing is too low for the left. They'll use any means necessary to destroy opposition to their undemocratic statist program.

Gisele Bündchen Sunbathing in Italy

She's supposedly the most successful fashion model --- supermodel --- in the world.

Well, who knows?

She's definitely successful in a thong bikini, either way.

At London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE PICTURES: Gisele shows off her pert posterior as she sunbathes Deflategate suspension away with husband Tom Brady."

Jason Brennan, Against Democracy

I know this is an interesting book, perhaps even vital, when the Jacobin foams at the mouth in denouncing it. See, "Bleeding Heart Bullshit."

And from the blurb at Amazon:

Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for us--it empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But, Jason Brennan says, they are all wrong.

In this trenchant book, Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its results--and the results are not good enough. Just as defendants have a right to a fair trial, citizens have a right to competent government. But democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short. Furthermore, no one has a fundamental right to any share of political power, and exercising political power does most of us little good. On the contrary, a wide range of social science research shows that political participation and democratic deliberation actually tend to make people worse--more irrational, biased, and mean. Given this grim picture, Brennan argues that a new system of government--epistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeable--may be better than democracy, and that it's time to experiment and find out.

A challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable, Against Democracy is essential reading for scholars and students of politics across the disciplines.

Brennan is supposedly some hip new libertarian dude, although I'm not familiar with him, and I'm not that big on libertarianism (since it ineluctably devolves to leftism and anti-Semitism, frankly, at least in its current manifestations amid the culture wars).

But if the guy in fact harks back to a more Milton Friedman-esque style of libertarianism, I could throw some weight behind it.

In any case, here's another review, at Free Beacon, "Free People at the Polls — Review: Jason Brennan, 'Against Democracy'."

Amid Violent Protests, Authorities Release Video of Black Man Killed in El Cajon Police Shooting

If we were still in the middle of the summer, I'd be tempted to go down to San Diego for some original blog reporting. I haven't done anything like that in a while.

In any case, following-up from the other day, "El Cajon Police Officer Shoots and Kills Black Man (VIDEO)."

At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "El Cajon protests continue after release of police shooting video":

Three days after an El Cajon police officer fatally shot an unarmed black man, authorities released video of the incident his family and protesters have demanded to see.

A protest far more peaceful than Thursday night followed the release of the footage.

The two videos, lasting less than 90 seconds total, show the moments on Tuesday before and when an officer fired his gun and a second officer fired a Taser at Alfred Olango, 38.

On the video with sound, four gun shots are heard, followed by a woman’s screams.

The recordings last only a few seconds after the shooting. One recording was surveillance video from a nearby business, the other was taken on cellphone by a witness.

El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis, backed by Mayor Bill Wells, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and others, held a news conference on Friday to distribute copies of the video to reporters.

Davis identified Officer Richard Gonsalves as the officer who shot Olango and Officer Josh McDaniel as the officer who fired a Taser. Both have been on the department for 21 years.

The chief said he sat in on a conference call Friday morning with Wells, Dumanis, Sheriff Bill Gore, San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman and Escondido police Chief Craig Carter. All agreed to release of the video in the interest of public safety, he said.

He added that misinformation was spreading through the community “with the potential to create unrest” in the city.

“We didn’t want to waste time,” he said. “At the end of the day, it was important to put this out to the community.”

Davis said nights of “escalating aggression” and the effects of protests in the city, including closed stores and schools, led to the decision to allow the public to see the videos.

Dumanis said she agreed with the release of the footage, adding that the video is only one piece of evidence her office will review in deciding whether the shooting was legally justified.

She said the FBI has been involved in the investigation into the shooting.

Dr. Andre Branch, president of the NAACP San Diego, also at the conference, agreed that the video needed to be shown.

“I applaud and commend Chief Jeff Davis and the city of El Cajon for releasing the video of the police-involved shooting. NAACP believes this is the action that should follow any and all police shootings.”

Olango’s family were not present at the conference.

The videos were shown live over local news stations. About a dozen people collected outside police headquarters during the news conference watched the videos on their cellphones and reacted with anger as they heard the shots ring out...

More.

Also at LAT, "The battle for footage after the El Cajon shooting: 'The country is begging for a video'."

Van Morrison's New Album, 'Keep Me Singing', is Now Available

Just released yesterday, at Amazon, Keep Me Singing.

PREVIOUSLY: "Van Morrison, 'Too Late' (VIDEO)."

Supreme Court Justices Return to Face Volatile Docket

I was just thinking about the Court's new term this week, since I'm doing civil liberties in my classes and I thought I might show my students an article or two or the coming term, which starts (each year) at the beginning of October.

So, what do you know?

See the New York Times, "Supreme Court Faces Volatile, Even if Not Blockbuster, Docket":

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, awaiting the outcome of a presidential election that will determine its future, returns to the bench this week to face a volatile docket studded with timely cases on race, religion and immigration.

The justices have been shorthanded since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February, and say they are determined to avoid deadlocks. That will require resolve and creativity.

“This term promises to be the most unpredictable one in many, many years,” said Neal K. Katyal, a former acting United States solicitor general in the Obama administration now with Hogan Lovells.

There is no case yet on the docket that rivals the blockbusters of recent terms addressing health care, abortion or same-sex marriage. But such cases are rare, whether there are eight justices or nine.

“This term’s cases are not snoozers,” said Elizabeth B. Wydra, the president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a liberal group. “This term features important cases about racial bias in the criminal justice system, voting rights and redistricting, immigration and detention, and accountability for big banks that engaged in racially discriminatory mortgage lending practices.”

There are, moreover, major cases on the horizon, including ones on whether a transgender boy may use the boys’ restroom in a Virginia high school and on whether a Colorado baker may refuse to serve a same-sex couple.

“If either of these cases is taken, it will almost immediately become the highest profile case on the court’s docket,” said Steven Shapiro, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

There is also the possibility that a dispute over the outcome of the presidential election could end up at the Supreme Court, as it did in 2000 in Bush v. Gore.

“That is the doomsday scenario in some respects of having an eight-member court,” said Carter G. Phillips, a lawyer with Sidley Austin. A deadlocked Supreme Court would leave in place the lower court ruling and oust the justices from their role as the final arbiters of federal law.

Race figures in many of the new term’s most important cases, including two to be heard in October, and that seems to be part of a new trend. “The court hasn’t had a lot of cases recently dealing with race in the criminal justice system,” said Jeffrey L. Fisher, a law professor at Stanford.

In June, a dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor brought a new perspective to the issue. Citing James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Between the World and Me,” she insisted that the brutal history and contemporary reality of racism in the United States must play a role in the court’s analysis.

That dissent may prove influential, said Justin Driver, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “One item to keep an eye on this term,” he said, “is the extent to which the Black Lives Matters movement makes its presence felt on the court’s docket.”

On Wednesday, the court will hear arguments in Buck v. Davis, No. 15-8049. It arose from an extraordinary assertion by an expert witness in the death penalty trial of Duane Buck, who was convicted of the 1995 murders of a former girlfriend and one of her friends while her young children watched. The expert, presented by the defense, said that black men are more likely to present a risk of future danger.

The justices will decide whether Mr. Buck, who is black, may challenge his death sentence based on the ineffectiveness of the trial lawyer who presented that testimony.

“The Buck case raises questions that could not be more relevant to ongoing conversations sparked by police shootings about implicit bias and stereotyping of African-American men as violent and dangerous,” Ms. Wydra said. “The Roberts court, and particularly the chief justice himself, has often been reluctant to acknowledge the reality of systemic racism in this country, but the egregious facts of the Buck case make it impossible to avoid.”

On Oct. 11, the court will consider another biased statement, this one ascribed to a juror during deliberations in a sexual assault trial. “I think he did it because he’s Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want,” the juror said of the defendant, according to a sworn statement from a second juror.

The question in the case, Peña Rodriguez v. Colorado, No. 15-606, is how to balance the interest in keeping jury deliberations secret against the importance of ridding the criminal justice system of racial and ethnic bias.

Race also figures in cases on redistricting, fair housing and malicious prosecution...

Well, that's a lot of stuff on race and criminal justice, but I can't wait to see the Court take up the transgender restroom issue, to say nothing of the homosexual wedding cakes. You gotta ask how far is the culture war going to succeed in rending our country into that which is totally unrecognizable.

But keep reading. We'll certainly know in due time.