Baseball's Booming Television Ratings

Baseball's doing great!

The NFL not so much, lol.

Baseball ratings this year are yuuuge https://t.co/PcBrQmp94q

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) October 18, 2016

I'm a Bible-Thumping Etiquette Teacher for Trump

Heh.

I love this.

From Diann Catlin, at USA Today:

I first encountered Donald Trump during the Republican Party primary debates. Night after night as he took on his opponents with vitriol and poorly chosen words, I would tell my husband, “I will NEVER vote for this man. He is simply Rude with a capital R.” I actually loved the night Sen. Marco Rubio dished it back, giving Trump a dose of boys-will-be-boys, and me a dose of front-seat boyish braggadocio.

I am not a reality TV viewer, and having never heard him utter “You’re fired,” I simply began listening to Trump relative to the key issues Americans face. Of course we need to secure the borders, and of course we need to improve job growth in America. We must lower our debt and we certainly must value the life of the unborn child. When I listened to the Trump children (who definitely would have seen their father in both good and bad times) speak of him with respectful reverence, I had to question my early summation of Trump.

Over the years earning a living as an etiquette teacher, I have met and corrected brash and character-challenged individuals. When I decided to vote for Trump, many of my friends said: “You, an etiquette consultant, can vote for someone so uncivil?” The more I encountered Trump in various televised interviews, the more I realized if his prickly corners were carved away, his strength on the issues would surface. I read his list of possible Supreme Court nominees and recalled how Obama’s liberal appointees had voted. I realized judgeship appointments would be crucial in the next years, and that Hillary Clinton would be appointing “Obamaesque” lawyers who would tilt the court even farther left.

I have taught the Bible, God’s Word, verse by verse for over 30 years. I like God’s ways. I know that he creates life in a mother’s womb. I know that he wants words of edification to come from our lips. I also know that he wants discerning believers to take part in government. Honestly, I find it embarrassing when evangelicals do not vote. To use as an excuse against voting that Trump is rude or worldly does not hold water, because God has always used imperfect people for his glory.

When God used David, whom he called a man after his own heart, he used a human David who not only committed adultery but murder. God uses people like Trump and like me who are sinners but whose specific issues, like the life of the unborn child, align with his word.

I kept weighing all I was seeing because deciding not to vote was not an option. One thing I know is that Barack Obama is as far from aligning with Christian values as any president we have ever had. And with 30 years of public service doing little for the issues Christians value, Clinton is simply more of Obama...

Keep reading.

Pre-Debate Handshakes Go Out the Window

This was the first thing I noticed at the last debate. The atmosphere was so tense you could cut it with a knife.

At NYT, "At Previous Debates, Melania Trump and Bill Clinton Shook Hands. Not Anymore":

This intensely antagonistic election has shattered another quaint campaign ritual: the handshakes between opposing candidates’ family members before a debate.

At previous debates, former President Bill Clinton has shaken the hand of Melania Trump — and sometimes the hands of the children of Donald J. Trump — as part of the predebate protocol.

It provides the audience in the room, and the people watching at home, with a moment of graciousness and a touch of celebrity.

But for the final debate, Hillary Clinton’s campaign wants a different setup, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity to speak candidly about debate negotiations.

That’s because at the previous debate, on Oct. 9 in St. Louis, the Trump campaign had an elaborate plan to parade three women who accused Mr. Clinton of sexual assault and rape into the family seating area and force Mr. Clinton to shake their hands as he crossed the room.

Had the Trump campaign succeeded, Mr. Clinton would have come face-to-face with the women on national television, a potentially humiliating and excruciating encounter. However, the Commission on Presidential Debates intervened, and the women — Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey — never came close to Mr. Clinton.

But the Clinton side is not taking any chances at the final presidential debate, on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, and has apparently gained approval of a different protocol for the entry of the candidates’ spouses and families into the debate hall.

The new arrangement calls for the candidates’ spouses to enter the hall closer to their seats, rather than crossing the room, and each other’s paths.

That would avoid any potential for confrontations, given Mr. Trump’s penchant for dramatic stunts.

On Tuesday, an aide to Mrs. Clinton declined to comment on the change, and aides to Mr. Trump did not respond to an email seeking comment.

It is possible, of course, that further negotiations could result in a different arrangement, if both sides agree, by the time the debate begins at 9 p.m. Eastern.

But the unease over how the candidates’ families interact echoes that of the candidates themselves. At the debate in St. Louis, in a striking departure from tradition, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump did not shake hands at the start, though they did at the conclusion of the 90 minutes.

The Clinton campaign is bracing for other possible Trump surprises at the debate, which seem more likely as the Republican nominee slips further in the polls...

More.

Iraqi and Kurdish Forces Push Closer to Mosul (VIDEO)

Holly Williams reports, for CBS News This Morning:



Also, at LAT, "Iraqi forces face Islamic State snipers, rockets and suicide bombers during Mosul offensive."

Allie Silva, Playboy's Miss October 2016 (VIDEO)

At Playboy, "Meet Miss October 2016 Allie Silva."

Polls Spell Trouble for Donald Trump?

WaPo was out with a 15 state survey yesterday which showed Hillary Clinton with multiple paths to an Electoral College victory. Not so much for Donald Trump, apparently, although I'm not that impressed.

Still, even the Los Angeles Times poll, the huge national outlier, is showing Trump's possibly fatal vulnerabilities.

See, "Even lots of Donald Trump's supporters are starting to think he'll lose the election":

Add another item to Donald Trump’s list of problems: More and more, his own supporters no longer think he can win, the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Daybreak poll has found.

As the two presidential nominees prepare for their final debate Wednesday in Las Vegas, the share of Americans who expect a Hillary Clinton victory is at the highest level since the poll began in July. Among Trump supporters, the share who think he will lose has grown significantly over the last month. That’s contributing to an election that increasingly seems headed to a lopsided finish.

The Daybreak poll asks people whom they plan to vote for and which candidate they expect will win. The question of voter expectations has often, although not always, proved to be a more reliable forecaster of election outcomes than asking voters their candidate preference.

Trump still has many fervent supporters who predict he will win, but, particularly among his voters who are college-educated or in higher-income brackets, expectations for a victory have dimmed.

Their optimism has faded as Trump’s standing in the race against Clinton has declined from a high point in mid-September. The Daybreak poll continues to show a small Trump lead, within the survey’s margin of error, while the other major surveys show Clinton ahead. But the surveys all agree on the trend of declining Trump support.

The descent started after the first presidential debate. Despite what some analysts predicted, the public airing of a videotape in which Trump could be heard boasting that he could get away with assaulting women because of his celebrity did not trigger a meltdown of his poll standing.

In the last few days, his support has shown signs of stabilizing at a lower level. That could mean Trump’s backing has reached a floor, although the evidence is not yet definitive.

In the polling averages, Trump receives support from about 41% of voters in a two-way matchup with Clinton and is a couple of percentage points lower in polls that include third-party candidates. That puts him in the range of lopsided losers including former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, who got 41% and lost 49 states to President Reagan in 1984, and Sen. Barry Goldwater, who took 38% against President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964’s Democratic landslide.

The country’s partisan division has hardened since those contests, and many more states align solidly with one party or the other. As a result, as the electoral map shows, even a Republican candidate with historically low levels of support can count on winning about 20 states with just short of 160 electoral votes and probably a few more than that. Clinton holds leads in states with 279 electoral votes — more than the 270 needed to win the White House — while five states remain too close to predict.

The decline in Trump’s standing, albeit small, has been enough to bolster Clinton’s edge in the largest of those toss-up states, Florida, where she has led in 10 consecutive polls over the last two weeks. Polling averages show her ahead by about 4 points there. Trump’s decline has also been enough to put at least one traditionally Republican state, Arizona, into the toss-up category.

The declining share of Trump voters who expect a victory could pose further problems for him. Expectations matter to campaign operatives, who try strenuously to project confidence about winning out of concern that voter beliefs about a loss can become self-fulfilling.

Keep reading.

Daina Ramey Berry, The Price for Their Pound of Flesh

Out January 24, 2017, at Amazon, The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation.

And see her op-ed at the New York Times, "Nat Turner’s Skull and My Student’s Purse of Skin."

7-Year-Old Girl Tells the World That Down Syndrome Is 'Not Scary'

ABC 7 Los Angeles' Leanne Suter tweeted this beautiful story.

Also, on YouTube.

Voting for Jill Stein?

Not me, but I gotta say her attacks on Hillary Clinton are epic.

At Vox, "I’m voting for Jill Stein. It’s a moral choice. It reflects who I am as a person."

Hillary's Hacked Emails Present Grim Picture of the Woman Who's Supposed to Be Our Savior

This is awesome.

I'm surprised USA Today even published this letter.

See, "Don’t blame the hackers, blame the perpetrators: Your Say":

Let me start by saying both candidates are horrid and flawed. I cannot believe, as Americans, this is the best we can do to represent both parties in an election. Be that as it may, I agree with your comment saying that “if you fear something will become public, don’t do it” in the editorial “What WikiLeaks hack says about Clinton.” However, to bemoan the Russian government as seeking to damage democracy is going a bit far. I am not a Donald Trump fan but I am thankful that Russia (or whoever) hacked these emails and has exposed Hillary Clinton as the sneaky, conniving, lying person she is. Just as I am glad The New York Times exposed Trump.

People do not regret their crimes unless they’re caught, and this is what it’s all about. The Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s staff got caught and they’re embarrassed by it. If this is influencing the election by exposing the ever elusive truth, then I am all for it.

We all know we can’t get the truth from our news media. It’s a shame it has to come from another country. That is why this election is so contentious this year. Americans are tired of Washington and career politicians like the Clintons. This has allowed a candidate like Trump to become the voice of Americans. And his supporters will ignore anything thrown at them and stand by his side. If anything, it strengthens their resolve.

Maybe if the news media would do an honest job of reporting the truth, other parties/countries wouldn’t have to step in and do it for us. The American public has been duped by both candidates and the news media.

Doug Burns
Arcanum, Ohio

Four Killed as Drunk Driver Plunges Truck Off Coronado Bridge in San Diego (VIDEO)

This was over the weekend in San Diego.

Man, what a horrible killing.

At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Driver in Coronado bridge crash is aviation electrician."

And at ABC News 10 San Diego:

Republican Party on the Verge of Extinction?

Well, if they lose their grassroots voter base they'll go instinct, although I'm not sure we're there yet. When Republicans lose competitiveness in congressional races, perhaps we'll be at a tipping point. But as long at the party can field candidates in those "down ballot" races everyone keeps talking about, they'll survive.

Presidential elections may well be another story, however, especially after this year.

An interesting piece at NYT:

Donald Trump and the G.O.P.: The Party of Lincoln, Reagan and, Perhaps, Extinction. Good Riddance #GOPe https://t.co/8LpRH1RmuE

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) October 17, 2016

The Leftist Media's Big 'Rape Culture' Lie

At the Other McCain, "The Big Lie: ‘Rape Culture,’ the UVA Hoax and the Democrat-Media Complex."

Emily Ratajkowski Shows Off Peachy Bikini Body on Fabulous Beach Holiday

She's so wonderful.

At London's Daily Mail, "She rocks! Emily Ratajkowski shows off her peachy behind in skimpy swimsuit as she plays the daredevil on another idyllic holiday.

And go right to Instagram.

BONUS: Topless at Egotastic.

Bella Hadid Posts Smokin' Bikini Beach Photo to Instagram

At London's Daily Mail, "'Where I'd rather be': Bella Hadid posts sexy bikini snap on the beach... after describing the toll Lyme disease has taken."

She's on holiday at Turks and Caicos.

Zilla was suffering from Lyme disease some time back, but she's been blogging more of late, and I hope she's doing better.

Deal of the Day: Sharkk COMMANDO Waterproof Bluetooth Outdoor Speaker

At Amazon, Sharkk COMMANDO Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker IP65 Outdoor Wireless Bluetooth Speakers with 24 Hour+ Battery Life.

Save on SanDisk Memory Products.

Plus, Sony Xperia XA unlocked smartphone,16GB Rose Gold (US Warranty).

Also, KIND Bars, Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein, Gluten Free, 1.4 Ounce Bars, 12 Count.

BONUS: From Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich: A New History.

Amber Lee's Monday Weather

Last night's forecast with Amber Lee, via CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Donald Trump's Untried Ground Game in Ohio

As they say, if Trump can't win Ohio, he's toast.

From Cathleen Decker, at the Los Angeles Times, "Ohio is crucial to win the White House. But there are few signs Trump is trying to get out the vote."

ICYMI: Robert J. Gordon, The Rise and Fall of American Growth [BUMPED]

I'm cracking I cracked this book open today yesterday. I don't plan on reading it cover to cover, especially since I've got so many other books going at the same time, but I've got it out in front of me and plan to read the introduction just after I finish putting up a few blog posts.

At Amazon, The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War.

Republican Party Headquarters Firebombed in Orange Country, North Carolina

Remember what I was saying about political violence in my previous entry?

Threats of violence are hardly the preserve of the right.

At the Charlotte Observer, "Pat McCrory: Firebombing ‘an attack on democracy’."

Orange County is 80 percent Democrat.

Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just firebombed our office in Orange County because we are winning @NCGOP

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016

More at Memeorandum.