Bwahaha! European Union Meets to 'Rethink' Defense Policy Under Donald Trump Administration

The E.U. is the epitome of the unaccountable elite, and now these despicable hacks are hating life.

I love it.

At the link is Federica Mogherini, the Italian Marxist who's been pushing an Islamo-communist agenda since she came to power as an E.U. apparatchik.

Fuck 'em.

At WSJ, "EU Meets to Rethink Defense Options Under Trump Presidency":

BRUSSELS — European foreign and defense ministers met Monday to approve ways of expanding their security cooperation as pressure builds on Europe to increase its own military spending with the election of Donald Trump.

Expanding European defense cooperation has long been controversial, with a number of proposals in the past blocked by Britain, which preferred to work to strengthen security through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

But Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and now the election of Mr. Trump has given fresh impetus to the EU to come up with new plans for security cooperation. In his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump has questioned the relevance of the NATO military alliance and suggested American military support could be conditional on European defense spending.

Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, has said Europe must develop strategic autonomy, an ability to act independently of the U.S.

“We have a lot of potential that we don’t utilize yet,” Ms. Mogherini said Monday. “There is a need to strengthen our security profile.”

According to a draft statement, due to be published later Monday, foreign and defense ministers said they were committed to strengthening the EU’s ability to act as a security provider: “This will enhance its global strategic role and its capacity to act autonomously when and where necessary and with partners wherever possible.”

Still, forging consensus in the EU is difficult, and divisions remain in the bloc over how to increase defense spending or create new military capabilities.

Concerns by a number of countries over the need to avoid duplication with NATO have resulted in a watered-down proposal for a military headquarters. The EU is now proposing a strategic group that could plan and oversee training missions but not conduct peacekeeping or other military operations.

The new EU plan focuses on how to improve and speed up such military training missions, leaving so-called collective defense planning to NATO.

In the short term, the most meaningful step forward by the EU will likely not be a new initiative, but simply utilizing its standing battle groups. Nations contribute a battalion of forces for six-month periods so that the EU always has a crisis-response team ready, but the EU has never used the force.

However, Monday’s statement contains a number of other initiatives that could over time significantly enhance the bloc’s defense cooperation.

The bloc will review its rules with an eye to increasing the amount of common EU funding available for covering the cost of its overseas civilian and military missions. It will study options for making the rules for deploying the battle groups more flexible and for ensuring the crisis-response teams are better equipped to respond to specific crises.

The EU will also hold regular leaders’ summits on defense and security and conduct an annual ministerial review of how the EU is doing to build greater defense capabilities. And it will look at the options for allowing a group of EU member states to set up a permanent defense structure that can build up the bloc’s defense readiness.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Monday’s decisions are a key moment in developing the bloc’s potential...

More.

Outpouring of Anger Has Little Recent Parallel (VIDEO)

It's the shock of it all. Leftist thought they had it in the bag, that, combines with the utter repudiation of the depraved far-left ideology, and it's really set them off.

At LAT, "Tempers on both sides flare in California after Trump's unexpected election victory":

A Bay Area teacher was put on leave for comparing President-elect Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. A woman speaking Assyrian on a Bay Area Rapid Transit train was accosted by another passenger who told her, “Trump might deport you.”

Some Latino students in Northern California were given mock “deportation letters” by a classmate. And a high school student in San Mateo County was given a bloody nose after voicing support for Trump on Instagram.

In the days since Trump was elected president of the United States, one thing has been certain in this divided country: Tensions are high.

The outpouring of anger has little recent historic parallel, said John J. Pitney, a professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College and a former Republican policy aide. Pitney said the closest comparison was with the election of 1800 in which Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in a bitterly waged campaign that included the candidates trading insults.

For many people, this year’s election was less a choice between two candidates than about whether voters felt they would have a place in America, he said.

“A lot of people didn’t just see this election as a matter of political choice but a matter of identity,” Pitney said. “On the one hand, many of the people who voted for Trump see themselves as forgotten and disrespected, and many of the people who are against Trump see themselves as groups under threat. Feelings are going to run very hot.”

Demonstrators across the country have blocked streets in protest of the president-elect. On Saturday, some 8,000 people marched from MacArthur Park to downtown Los Angeles, shouting “Not my president!” as they formed one of the nation’s largest demonstrations so far. Hundreds more peacefully rallied in Hollywood on Sunday.

In other instances, demonstrating has turned ugly. Los Angeles police arrested hundreds of protesters who marched in downtown L.A. in recent days, saying they vandalized property, blocked roads, hurled bottles and refused to disperse. Taggers scrawled anti-Trump messages and profanity on downtown buildings, tunnels, sidewalks — even on a television news van and a police cruiser.

Anxiety has been so high that calls to anti-suicide and crisis hotlines have spiked since the votes were counted.

Steve Mendelsohn, deputy executive director of The Trevor Project, a West Hollywood-based organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ people, said his organization has seen a dramatic increase in calls and messages this week.

“Over 95% of those who called mentioned Donald Trump,” Mendelsohn said. “The general theme was anxiety and fear.”

They worried about potential bullying, their healthcare and whether gay marriage would be reversed, he said. On Wednesday and Thursday, the organization received 688 calls and messages. On the same days last year, they got 307 such contacts, he said.

Fernando Guerra, a political scientist and director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, said the surprise outcome of the election, which many polls had predicted would be won by Democrat Hillary Clinton, is a major factor in the intense reactions.

“So many groups were told this wasn’t going to happen, both Trump and Clinton supporters,” Guerra said. “Both are shocked.”

Guerra said that while he thinks the protests are “a great outlet for a lot of people feeling threatened and emotionally displaced,” the large demonstrations will  last only a few weeks (and possibly re-emerge around Trump’s January inauguration) because it is difficult to organize and sustain ongoing protests.

He also believes the uptick in racially charged incidents is temporary because American public opinion is overwhelmingly opposed to racism — especially if Trump and his supporters condemn racist acts.

“This is where leadership counts,” Guerra said...

More.

There Are Worse Things Than Losing an Election

I had the sweetest exchange with Bethany Mandel on Twitter last night, and she really made me think.

Leftists need to put things in perspective:

This is the worst thing that has happened in my life. But eventually we will triumph. https://t.co/BvKm1DKL1i pic.twitter.com/4fSMyH7PrY

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) November 9, 2016

I took my mom off life support at 16 & dad hanged himself 3 yrs later. I'm sorry this election was so hard for you. https://t.co/yTjbeWzCep

— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) November 13, 2016

Yumoom Men's Oversized Canvas Travel Duffle Bag [BUMPED]

A top product, at Amazon, Yumoom Men's Oversized Canvas Travel Duffle Bag Tote Luggage Bag Overnight Bags."

A nice bag too!

BONUS: Justin Gest, The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration and Inequality.

Sunday Trump Girls Rule 5

Well, it's a new dawn, and Rule 5 blogging's going to be more popular than ever!

Flashback to June, "Babes for Trump."

And at Heat Street, "‘Babes for Trump’ Want to Break the Internet." (And see this "Trump Girl" posting this week.)

Also, at 90 Miles From Tyranny,"Morning Mistress," and Drunken Stepfather, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY."

BONUS: At Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is horrendous carbon pollution created snow, you might just be a Warmist."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Tuesday Election Day Funnies."



Theo Spark, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: A.F. Branco, "Angry White Leftists."

Reince Priebus Picked as White House Chief of Staff

There'll be some moaning from hardcore tea partiers and "Never Trumpers," but this is an extremely smart pick.

At LAT, "Trump chooses Republican Party chairman Priebus as his chief of staff":

President-elect Donald Trump named Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus as his White House chief of staff on Sunday, suggesting an increased willingness by Trump to work within Washington's system to accomplish his agenda.

Priebus was viewed as a choice who could bring order and experience to Trump's inner circle, which consists largely of family members and advisors with little experience in Washington. He also serves as a bridge to Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

The other leading candidate to run Trump's White House staff was campaign CEO Stephen K. Bannon, a more incendiary choice who helped bolster some of Trump's most divisive rhetoric about Muslims, immigrants and other minority groups.

Bannon will also play a major role in the Trump administration as chief strategist, the president-elect said...

More.

Trump rewarded loyalty, and I certainly noticed that Priebus went all out to support Trump after he won the nomination. I was kinda surprised sometimes the way things were going, considering how almost the entire GOP establishment had rebuked Trump time and again. Priebus held firm, and wasn't afraid of criticizing Trump on occasion.

Also at WSJ, "RNC Chair Priebus Is Named Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff."

Democrats Were Crushed in Appalachia

Salena Zito's reporting this year was perhaps the most important in all of journalism.

More here, at the Washington Examiner, "How the Democrats lost the white working class":

On Thursday morning the "Today" show had a segment on with a psychologist who was there to guide parents on how to explain Hillary Clinton's loss to their children.

"Well that is interesting, they sure didn't have a child psychologist on to explain to my children the loss of Mitt Romney, or John McCain. You just simply did not have that," said a suburban mother sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office with the morning show streaming on the television.

The young mother, an IT professional who lives in Pittsburgh, the "Paris of Appalachia," said she was stunned once again how the media still don't get people outside of the big cities.

"Two days later and they still don't get it," said Brad Todd, a Washington based Republican consultant who also caught the show.

Nor did Republicans go to the streets and start burning stuff either, he said, "And, by the way, if Trump had lost and this had happened, think how different this coverage would be. It would, in fact, be meltdown crazy."

Brad Todd has gotten this cultural disconnect for a very long time, reaching back to the 2006 midterm elections that threw his party out of power. Todd, the founding partner of On Message, a GOP media strategy firm based in Washington, has never lost his connection to the five generations of Tennesseans that came before him.

And one of the regions he has really understood was Appalachia, which stretches from the industrial North, through the Rust Belt, down into the Deep South that distinctively follows the migration and settlement patterns of early Scots-Irish Jacksonian Democrats.

These voters are Democrats by birth, a tradition carried on from New Deal-Democrat paternity who fundamentally started breaking with their party when they began cutting them loose after flirting with their support during the 2006 midterm elections. It's been a decade since they offered voters moderate Democratic candidates.

Since then white, traditional-values, working-class, predominantly male voters have been severed from their party so they could build an urban- and cosmopolitan-centered coalition of minorities, elites and women...

Keep reading.

Mary Matalin's Facial Expressions Are Everything (VIDEO)

Heh.

Check out this post from Fuzzy Slippers, at Legal Insurrection.

Mary Matalin is just trippin' on Van Jones and Katrina vanden Heuval. Her facial expressions tell it all.

Here, "Mary Matalin v. Van Jones on Race in the 2016 Election."

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, The Right Nation [BUMPED]

I read this book when it came out in 2005, although I admit I'd thought the arguments had gone out of favor.

But maybe not, after what we saw on election day.

Check it out, at Amazon, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America.

America is fundamentally a conservative nation at its core. The left has been trying to change that for generations, and came close during the Obama years. But now the "silent majority" has awakened, and leftist forces are in shock. Progressives and radicals are traumatized, and their coddling ideology has left them bereft with coping mechanisms.

Oh god what a beauty to behold. I'm loving this moment like you can't imagine. It's glorious.

Judge Jeanine's Opening Statement: This Was a Revolution (VIDEO)

So good!

She predicted an American Brexit and boy did she nail it!

President-Elect Trump Plans to Deport as Many as Two to Three Million Illegal Aliens Right Away

If you're a leftist, this is scary, but then, it's Obama who's to blame, not Trump.

Leftists had a chance to pass comprehensive immigration reform in 2009, including an earned legalization program, but they put it off, mostly because they wanted to keep illegal immigration as a wedge issue.

Big mistake.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "President Trump Vows to Immediately Deport 2-3 Million Criminal Illegal Aliens":

President-elect Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration stance was a central part of his campaign message in 2016 -- and he said in an interview airing Sunday that he plans to immediately deport approximately two to three million undocumented immigrants.

“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” Trump said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally.”

He continued by saying that after the border is “secure,” immigration officials will begin to make a “determination” about the remaining undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

“After the border is secure and after everything gets normalized, we’re going to make a determination on the people that they’re talking about who are terrific people, they’re terrific people but we are gonna make a determination at that,” he said. “But before we make that determination...it’s very important, we are going to secure our border.”

Asked whether he really plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border -- a proposal that served as a centerpiece of his campaign message -- Trump replied, “Yes.”

Since Trump’s election on Tuesday night, the realities of actually building that wall have begun to set in The Mexican government has publicly reminded him that Mexico will not pay for the wall. And asked about the wall, Trump transition co-chair Newt Gingrich said the wall was “a great campaign device.”

Trump also told “60 Minutes” that the border wall, which was one of the centerpieces of his campaign platform, could be part wall and “some fencing,” in accordance with what congressional Republicans have proposed.

“For certain areas I would, but certain areas, a wall is more appropriate,” he said. “I’m very good at this, it’s called construction.”

There's No 'Post-Election Spate' of Hate Crimes Following Donald Trump's Election

The Southern Poverty Law Center is spreading lies about an imaginary "surge" in post-election hate crimes, and mainstream media outlets are spreading the untruths.

See USA Today, for example, "Post-election spate of hate crimes worse than post-9/11, experts say" (via Memeorandum):

What may seem like a dramatic rise in the number of hate harassment and hate incidents happening across the country in the wake of Tuesday's general election is not in anyone's imagination, experts say.

There indeed has been a spike in the number of reports of such incidents, say representatives for two organizations that track such occurrences. A representative for one group, in fact, said the rise appears to be even worse that what was took place immediately after the terror attacks in 2001.

"Since the election, we've seen a big uptick in incidents of vandalism, threats, intimidation spurred by the rhetoric surrounding Mr. Trump's election," Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., told USA TODAY. "The white supremacists out there are celebrating his victory and many are feeling their oats," Cohen said.

More.

And then see Reason, "There Is No Violent Hate-Crime Wave n 'Trump's America': Please stop spreading unsubstantiated stories of Trump-induced terror":

Let's get this out of the way: there's no doubt that Donald Trump's policies may pose a direct threat to certain classes of American people. But in the wake of his Tuesday night election as president of the United States, there has been a wave of people worrying for the physical safety of Mexicans, Muslims, and anyone else who isn't white, male, and gender-conforming. The fear seems to legitimately be that there are would-be perpetrators of sexual assault and race-based violence that have been well-behaved so far but will now, emboldened by a President-elect Trump, suddenly go wild with the raping and the hate crimes.

Implausible? I think so. But the narrative has been bolstered by a few high-profile incidents of alleged aggression in Trump's America...

More.

One-Third of Clinton Voters Say Donald Trump is Illegitimate President-Elect

I have to confess by this time I thought the anger and despair would have died down, but it's not. I expect it's going to go on for a while now, and those dejected about the election are never going to accept Donald Trump's legitimacy. What comes next isn't clear, but it seems to me people should be channeling their emotions and efforts into conventional forms of political participation, like organizing for 2018 and 2020. It's not that far away.

As noted, I was depressed for a couple of months after 2008, but when the tea party started going in my area, I joined up. It gave me a chance to be around similar people with similar goals, and the tea party started winning. It was fun. Democrats need to get organized at the grassroots. They need to get active and start working for their issues. If it were me (and I were young), I'd travel to those states where Democrats lost in the Electoral College and start organizing for the next round. Can Democrats win those disaffected voters back? That's the challenge. And it's a calling for the left.

In any case, at the Washington Post, "One-third of Clinton supporters say Trump election is not legitimate, poll finds":

33% of Clinton supporters do not accept that Trump legitimately wonhttps://t.co/x1uaOtvpPQ

— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) November 13, 2016

A strong majority of Americans accept Donald Trump as the winner of the presidential election last week, but a significant minority of Hillary Clinton supporters say his victory was illegitimate, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The survey was conducted immediately after Election Day as anti-Trump protests sprang up across major cities, at the end of an acidic campaign in which Trump himself said he may not accept election results if Clinton prevailed.

The Post-ABC poll finds 74 percent of all Americans say they accept the election of Trump as legitimate while 18 percent do not. That result parallels a Post-ABC Tracking Poll just before the election, which found 79 percent of likely voters saying they were prepared to accept the outcome of the election regardless of who they support.

But while Trump supporters were more reluctant about accepting results before Tuesday — 22 percent said they were not prepared to do so — an even larger share of Clinton supporters now say they do not view Trump's election as legitimate.

A 58 percent majority of Clinton supporters say they accept Trump’s election, while 33 percent do not. Questions about Trump’s victory are passionate — 27 percent of Clinton supporters feel “strongly” he did not win legitimately.

There are sharp racial and gender differences in Clinton supporters’ acceptance of the results. Only 18 percent of whites who supported Clinton say Trump is not the legitimate winner, identical to the public overall, but fully 51 percent of black, Hispanic and other nonwhite Clinton supporters say Trump’s victory was illegitimate. Women who supported Clinton are twice as likely as men to question the legitimacy of Trump’s victory, 42 vs. 21 percent.

A Gallup poll released Friday asking a slightly different question found a smaller 23 percent of Clinton supporters saying they would not accept Trump as the legitimate president when he is inaugurated in January.

In the Post-ABC poll, nearly all of Trump’s supporters say he was elected legitimately, 99 percent, also marking a turnabout in confidence from one week ago when only 69 percent said they were prepared to accept the results of the election...

That's pretty revealing: A majority of "non-white" Clinton supporters reject Donald Trump. How's that "Hope and Change" working out for us? This is truly the legacy of the Obama years. We're divided along racial lines like no time since the civil rights era of the 1960s.

And it's going to take leftists to make things better. They're going to need to find a path to healing. I see Trump supporters saying time and again that their support for the Manhattan mogul is not racial. But leftists see everything through the lens of race. It's a cancerous legacy of the last 8 years. And it's a challenge for all Americans.

Still more. (Via Hot Air and Memeorandum.)

Leftists Lost the Culture War

We saw a hint of this in the 2015 off-year elections. Remember Molly Ball's piece, at the Atlantic, "Liberals Are Losing the Culture Wars."

Well, two elections in a row and the results are in. Leftists have been crushed, phenomenally crushed in the culture wars.

At USA Today:

People are crying: It's not because they lost a race, they lost the culture war. #MAGA https://t.co/nRWT7takGq

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 12, 2016

California and Donald Trump on Collision Course Over Illegal Immigration

California's Democrats and progressives are going to lose on this.

It's ironic because when states like Arizona cracked down with their own immigration enforcement laws, the Obama Democrats argued that immigration is solely a federal responsibility at the Supreme Court.

Now that the shoe's on the other foot, not so much.

At LAT, "California and Trump are on a collision course over immigrants here illegally":

California is quickly becoming a battleground for immigration policy as a cross-section of leaders across the state vowed to fight any plans by President-elect Donald Trump to deport thousands of people in the U.S. illegally.

Trump said during the presidential campaign that he’ll build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and deport people in the country illegally. He is expected to unwind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an initiative by President Obama that protects immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

California has some of the nation’s most liberal policies when it comes to handling immigrants here illegally. The state has allowed them to get driver’s licenses, health coverage for children and in-state tuition. Institutions like churches also support immigrants.

But the Golden State could be on a collision course with Trump if he pushes hard-line immigration policies enthusiastically backed by many of his supporters.

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez led an interfaith prayer service Thursday night in which he reassured immigrants in the country illegally that the church would continue supporting them.

“In the past couple days since the election … we have children in our schools who are scared,” Gomez told the congregation. “They think the government is going to come and deport their parents.”

At a hastily convened meeting Friday at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned that the city will question Trump’s decisions on immigration.

“If the first day, as president, we see something that is hostile to our people, hostile to our city, bad for our economy, bad for our security, we will speak up, speak out, act up and act out,” Garcetti said.

The mayor also said police would continue to enforce Special Order 40, which bars officers from asking people about their immigration status.

Kamala Harris, in her first appearance since winning her U.S. Senate race, also held an event Thursday at CHIRLA to announce her support for immigrants and criticize Trump’s plan for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Several days of street demonstrations in Los Angeles and other cities have followed Trump’s election, with protesters denouncing the Republican’s views on issues such as immigration. About 200 people were arrested Thursday night in downtown Los Angeles, according to LAPD Officer Tony Im.

Another anti-Trump protest is planned Saturday for MacArthur Park.

Of the 742,000 people across the country protected under DACA, about 200,000 are in Los Angeles County, according to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

Angelica Salas, CHIRLA’s executive director, said her office is being inundated with requests from immigrants about their status.

Marissa Montes, co-director of the Loyola Immigrant Justice Center, helps run a weekly meeting at the Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights. She said twice as many people — about 40 — showed up at this week’s forum Wednesday.

“People came out because of fear,” Montes said. “It was incredibly heartbreaking to tell people that I couldn’t tell them what was ahead.”

Good luck people.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection's coming for you, so just keep protesting and organizing and making yourself visible. It only makes it easier for the Trump administration to deport you.

More.

Previously, "Obama's Immigration Executive Orders Can Be Easily Overturned; Trump Administration Expected to Boost Deportations, Spreading Fear Throughout Illegal Alien Communities."

Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Camera

One of the top products, at Amazon, Fujifilm INSTAX Mini 8 Instant Camera (Blue).

BONUS: Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right.

An American Uprising

Oh boy, it is ever.

From Daniel Greenfield, at FrontPage Magazine, "American Uprising: Everything's About to Change":

This wasn’t an election. It was a revolution.

It’s midnight in America. The day before fifty million Americans got up and stood in front of the great iron wheel that had been grinding them down. They stood there even though the media told them it was useless. They took their stand even while all the chattering classes laughed and taunted them.

They were fathers who couldn’t feed their families anymore. They were mothers who couldn’t afford health care. They were workers whose jobs had been sold off to foreign countries. They were sons who didn’t see a future for themselves. They were daughters afraid of being murdered by the “unaccompanied minors” flooding into their towns. They took a deep breath and they stood.

They held up their hands and the great iron wheel stopped.

The Great Blue Wall crumbled. The impossible states fell one by one. Ohio. Wisconsin. Pennsylvania. Iowa. The white working class that had been overlooked and trampled on for so long got to its feet. It rose up against its oppressors and the rest of the nation, from coast to coast, rose up with it.

They fought back against their jobs being shipped overseas while their towns filled with migrants that got everything while they got nothing. They fought back against a system in which they could go to jail for a trifle while the elites could violate the law and still stroll through a presidential election. They fought back against being told that they had to watch what they say. They fought back against being held in contempt because they wanted to work for a living and take care of their families.

They fought and they won.

This wasn’t a vote. It was an uprising. Like the ordinary men chipping away at the Berlin Wall, they tore down an unnatural thing that had towered over them. And as they watched it fall, they marveled at how weak and fragile it had always been. And how much stronger they were than they had ever known.

Who were these people? They were leftovers and flyover country. They didn’t have bachelor degrees and had never set foot in a Starbucks. They were the white working class. They didn’t talk right or think right. They had the wrong ideas, the wrong clothes and the ridiculous idea that they still mattered.

They were wrong about everything. Illegal immigration? Everyone knew it was here to stay. Black Lives Matter? The new civil rights movement. Manufacturing? As dead as the dodo. Banning Muslims? What kind of bigot even thinks that way? Love wins. Marriage loses. The future belongs to the urban metrosexual and his dot com, not the guy who used to have a good job before it went to China or Mexico.

They couldn’t change anything. A thousand politicians and pundits had talked of getting them to adapt to the inevitable future. Instead they got in their pickup trucks and drove out to vote.

And they changed everything.

Barack Hussein Obama boasted that he had changed America. A billion regulations, a million immigrants, a hundred thousand lies and it was no longer your America. It was his.

He was JFK and FDR rolled into one. He told us that his version of history was right and inevitable.

And they voted and left him in the dust. They walked past him and they didn’t listen. He had come to campaign to where they still cling to their guns and their bibles. He came to plead for his legacy.

 And America said, “No.”

Fifty millions Americans repudiated him. They repudiated the Obamas and the Clintons. They ignored the celebrities. They paid no attention to the media. They voted because they believed in the impossible. And their dedication made the impossible happen.

Americans were told that walls couldn’t be built and factories couldn’t be opened. That treaties couldn’t be unsigned and wars couldn’t be won. It was impossible to ban Muslim terrorists from coming to America or to deport the illegal aliens turning towns and cities into gangland territories.

It was all impossible. And fifty million Americans did the impossible. They turned the world upside down.

It’s midnight in America. CNN is weeping. MSNBC is wailing. ABC calls it a tantrum. NBC damns it. It wasn’t supposed to happen. The same machine that crushed the American people for two straight terms, the mass of government, corporations and non-profits that ran the country, was set to win.

Instead the people stood in front of the machine. They blocked it with their bodies. They went to vote even though the polls told them it was useless. They mailed in their absentee ballots even while Hillary Clinton was planning her fireworks victory celebration. They looked at the empty factories and barren farms. They drove through the early cold. They waited in line. They came home to their children to tell them that they had done their best for their future. They bet on America. And they won.

They won improbably. And they won amazingly.

They were tired of ObamaCare. They were tired of unemployment. They were tired of being lied to. They were tired of watching their sons come back in coffins to protect some Muslim country. They were tired of being called racists and homophobes. They were tired of seeing their America disappear.

And they stood up and fought back. This was their last hope. Their last chance to be heard.

Watch this video. See ten ways John Oliver destroyed Donald Trump. Here’s three ways Samantha Bee broke the internet by taunting Trump supporters. These three minutes of Stephen Colbert talking about how stupid Trump is owns the internet. Watch Madonna curse out Trump supporters. Watch Katy Perry. Watch Miley Cyrus. Watch Robert Downey Jr. Watch Beyonce campaign with Hillary. Watch. Click.

Watch fifty million Americans take back their country.

The media had the election wrong all along. This wasn’t about personalities. It was about the impersonal. It was about fifty million people whose names no one except a server will ever know fighting back. It was about the homeless woman guarding Trump’s star. It was about the lost Democrats searching for someone to represent them in Ohio and Pennsylvania. It was about the union men who nodded along when the organizers told them how to vote, but who refused to sell out their futures.

No one will ever interview all those men and women. We will never see all their faces. But they are us and we are them. They came to the aid of a nation in peril. They did what real Americans have always done. They did the impossible.

America is a nation of impossibilities. We exist because our forefathers did not take no for an answer. Not from kings or tyrants. Not from the elites who told them that it couldn’t be done.

The day when we stop being able to pull of the impossible is the day that America will cease to exist.

Today is not that day. Today fifty million Americans did the impossible.

Midnight has passed. A new day has come. And everything is about to change.

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Road to the Runway, Lily Aldridge

I love Ms. Lily.

She's been a bit scarce this year, actually.

I'm looking forward to the fashion show.

Watch, "The 2016 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show: Lily Aldridge’s Road to the Runway."

BONUS: At Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is a world darkened by fossil fuels created clouds, you might just be a Warmist."

Kellyanne Conway Discusses Trump's Transition and First 100-Days (VIDEO)

Politico reports that there's infighting going on, "Trump team rivalries spark infighting."

But Kellyanne Conway gave no hint of acrimony or dissension, on Hannity's last night, "Kellyanne Conway on Trump's transition and 100-day plan."

BONUS: Check this great post at Hot Air, "Kellyanne Conway for chief of staff":

As noted yesterday, Trump has three constituencies rather than the usual two to please in appointing cabinet members and senior aides. He’s got his true believers, the people who voted for him; he’s got the people who worked for him and who actually helped him get elected, the spoils-system recipients; and he’s got the majority of the country, the Democrats, independents, and Trump-skeptic Republicans who watched the returns Tuesday night thinking Do I need to buy gold? The ideal pick for each job is someone who checks all three boxes. When push comes to shove, his voters need to be satisfied first. But if you can find a pick who makes everyone happy, why not pick them?

The only position I’ve seen Kellyanne Conway touted for so far is White House press secretary, which makes some sense. She was Trump’s most effective surrogate during the campaign by a country mile. If you’re looking within Trump’s inner circle for someone to be a day-to-day liaison to the national media, you couldn’t do better. But here’s the problem: Press secretary is a stupid, garbage job. The daily press briefing is one of the dreariest rituals in modern politics. Those who are good at it have perfected the art of saying nothing meaningful in a lot of words. Given what Conway accomplished in steering Trump to one of the unlikeliest national victories in American history, it’s borderline insulting to reward her with a position that lame.

Chief of staff, arguably the single most influential job in the White House apart from the presidency itself, would be better and would recognize the magnitude of her accomplishment. You could say the same for Steve Bannon, the campaign’s CEO and reportedly a top contender for the position, but between his Breitbart pedigree, his support for the alt-right, and the dirty laundry that the media aired this summer and will gleefully revisit if he’s named as COS, choosing him would freak out the third group I named above and will be treated by the press as confirmation of all their worst fears about Trump, rightly and wrongly. There’ll be headlines about how picking Bannon is a declaration of war on minority America — and on the rest of the GOP, given Bannon’s antipathy to Paul Ryan — and that’ll set the tone for everything going forward. (Besides, everyone understands that Bannon will be an eminence grise even if he’s not named to any formal position.) Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is another contender for the job. He seems capable and his instincts appear sound (he was reportedly in favor of dumping Corey Lewandowski over the summer), but he’s a political novice. As a friend said to me yesterday, Trump naming his daughter’s husband to a major position like COS without any experience would come off like something a Panamanian dictator would do. I think all three groups above would tolerate it, but there would be a lot of “huh?” and “amateur hour” reactions in group three, fairly or not.

Luisana Lopilato in Leopard Print Lingerie

Shoot, it's been years since I've blogged Ms. Lusiana!

Here, "Yowsa! New Luisana Lopilato Ultimo Lingerie Pics!"

And now at Page 3:

Luisana Lopilato wows in leopard print lingerie https://t.co/rLdqwHQXpH pic.twitter.com/qv3TbOQG5p

— Page 3 (@Page3) November 12, 2016

Jessica Biel Bikini Beach Vacation

At WWTDD, "Jessica Biel Bikinis With Timberlake and Shit Around the Web."

And at London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE PICTURES: Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake show off their beach bodies on romantic Caribbean getaway."

Veterans Launch Pro-Trump Rally at Camp Pendleton (VIDEO)

You'll be seeing more pro-Trump rallies if leftist demonstrations keep getting out of control.

The damned progs won't derail making America great again, lol.

At ABC News 10 Sand Diego:

Obama's Immigration Executive Orders Can Be Easily Overturned; Trump Administration Expected to Boost Deportations, Spreading Fear Throughout Illegal Alien Communities

Following-up from yesterday, "Students Scared Donald Trump Will Deport Their Parents."

At LAT, "Yes, Trump can boost deportations and gut the Dreamer program for young immigrants":

As president, Donald Trump can move swiftly to gut President Obama’s signature immigration policies by ramping up deportations and ending a program that has given temporary work permits to immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.

Nearly a third of the 742,000 so-called Dreamers — those given protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — live in California and are potentially at risk of losing legal status.

Using the same executive authority that Obama claimed to create DACA and other initiatives, Trump also can quickly fulfill his promises to severely restrict the number of refugees admitted each year and to effectively bar visitors from countries with large Muslim populations.

Trump said Thursday, after meeting with Obama at the White House and Congressional leaders on Capitol Hill, that immigration and border security would be among his top priorities when he takes office in January.

“People will be really, really happy,” he said. Asked if he would work with Congress to ban Muslim immigrants, Trump walked away without answering.

Trump’s aides have begun drafting instructions that he can issue on his first day in office for the nation’s 5,000 deportation officers to begin rounding up more people for removals, according to two advisors to his transition team.

“There is vast potential to increase the level of deportations without adding personnel,” said Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state and a member of Trump’s immigration policy transition team.

By giving more authority to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Trump easily could boost deportations by more than 75% in his first year in office, Kobach said.

That would meet the record set in 2012, at the end of Obama’s first term, when more than 400,000 people were deported. It fell to 235,00 last year after illegal immigration fell, and after agents were ordered to focus first on deporting criminals, repeat immigration violators and recent arrivals.

Under Trump, Kobach said, agents likely will return to raiding workplaces and checking workers’ status. That practice roiled immigrant communities in the final two years of George W. Bush’s presidency and was stopped when Obama came to office.

Trump may find it far more difficult to fulfill other prominent promises, however. They include building a tall wall along the entire border with Mexico and deporting millions more people.

Both proposals would require major appropriations from a Republican-led Congress that wants to cut spending, not increase it. It would require hammering out deals with Democrats who fiercely opposed Trump’s proposals on the campaign trail.

Trump has said the wall could cost up to $12 billion to build. An analysis published by MIT Technology Review estimated the cost at $38 billion, nearly the entire annual budget for the 22 federal agencies in the Department of Homeland Security...

Hillary Clinton's Campaign Ignored Bill's Suggestion to Court Working-Class Whites

Ouch!

That's gotta hurt.

From Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "REPORT: HILLARY CLINTON’S CAMPAIGN IGNORED BILL’S SUGGESTION TO COURT WORKING-CLASS WHITES."

Shasta High School Student Hands Out 'Deportation Letters' After Donald Trump's Election (VIDEO)

Needless to say, the kid's getting in trouble.

Funny though, since some real deportation letter will handed out after January 20th.

At the Redding Record Searchlight‎, "UPDATE: Shasta High student gives 'deportation' notices to other kids":

A Shasta High School student is in trouble for giving out phony deportation notices to several students of different ethnicities, district officials said.

The incident comes amid famously immigration-tough Donald Trump’s presidential election win Tuesday, though it couldn’t be confirmed whether the incident is related to Trump’s victory. Shasta Union High School District Superintendent Jim Cloney said he didn’t know whether the presidential race triggered the student’s stunt, “but I guess it would be hard to say it wasn’t.”

The student posted a video that’s since been deleted of himself making the rounds with the fake deportation notices, Cloney said. In a voice message Shasta High School Principal Leo Perez apparently sent to parents, Perez said “the students involved are all friends and the act was meant as a joke,” but it’s still not a joking matter.

A reader submitted stills from the video that appears to have been published on Snapchat to the Record Searchlight. The paper is not publishing the pictures so that the students can’t be identified.

In the stills, at least four students can be seen holding papers, though it’s not clear whether one of them is the distributor himself.

One shows a close-up of the “Deportation Order” being held by an unidentified hand in a classroom full of students with the caption “Got him.” The document is made to look like a real court order, but a Google search of the “712th Nonjudicial District Court” identified at the top reveals that the supposed court is one frequently used in prank forms...

 More.

'Dear Millennial Snowflakes...'

Heh.

At the D.C. Clothesline, "An Open Letter to Snowflake Millennials Who Are Melting in the Streets Because Trump Won."

That's a really long entry.

Read it all at the link.

It's bad out there right now, for leftists.

'America Died on Nov. 8, 2016...'

I don't know.

I think when Obama was reelected I came out and said, unapologetically, that he wasn't my president. I still don't apologize for it, because Obama --- and the Democrats --- don't represent me and they work for everything that I oppose.

So I get it. The progs don't like Trump.

I simply do not remember conservatives being this deathly glum. Sure, folks were depressed and disheartened by Obama's elections, but I think we've reached a whole new level this time around, a much deeper, darker level of despair. This time around it's leftist identity that's been crushed. Their vision of the "new America" of diversity and inclusion (and unicorns and rainbows) has been destroyed. It's much more visceral for leftists. I always thought that Obama was a temporary phenomenon --- recall one of my most famous phrases, "the Obama interregnum" --- and that this too shall pass. That's why I joined the tea party and attended conservative conferences. I joined the movement to restore the republic to its rightful place as a center-right country of basic decency.

Maybe leftists will break out of their funk pretty soon and get back to the business of organizing for change along lines of their choosing. It's just politics, and there's more to life than that.

In any case, here's Neal Gabler, at Bill Moyers' page, "Farewell, America":

Written by Neal Gabler for @BillMoyersHQ

They get it.

It might make you cry. I'm sorry.https://t.co/0T0j0UttLH

— 🌊 (@leahmcelrath) November 11, 2016

America died on Nov. 8, 2016, not with a bang or a whimper, but at its own hand via electoral suicide. We the people chose a man who has shredded our values, our morals, our compassion, our tolerance, our decency, our sense of common purpose, our very identity — all the things that, however tenuously, made a nation out of a country.

Whatever place we now live in is not the same place it was on Nov. 7. No matter how the rest of the world looked at us on Nov. 7, they will now look at us differently. We are likely to be a pariah country. And we are lost for it. As I surveyed the ruin of that country this gray Wednesday morning, I found weary consolation in W.H. Auden’s poem, September 1, 1939, which concludes:

“Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.”


I hunt for that affirming flame.

Oh brother. Dramatic much?

Still more, if you can take it.

Donald Trump's Election Bolsters Fortunes of Marine Le Pen of France

Following-up from last month, "Marine Le Pen Interview." (Make sure you read that interview if you missed it; she's the best.)

And now at the New York Times, "After Trump Win, Parallel Path Is Seen for Marine Le Pen of France’s Far Right":

HÉNIN-BEAUMONT, France — It was a moment of intense French patriotism on a sunny Friday, Armistice Day. A band blared “La Marseillaise,” the national anthem. Shouts of “Vive la France!” filled the chilly November air. And there, too, was Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front party, beaming.

Before Donald J. Trump’s presidential victory in the United States this week, Ms. Le Pen was considered a disruptive political force but far from a true threat to become president herself when France votes next spring. Not anymore.

Since Wednesday, French news outlets, along with Ms. Le Pen’s mainstream political rivals, have been repeating the same thing: It could happen here.

And Ms. Le Pen is not alone. From the Balkans to the Netherlands, politicians on the far right have greeted the election of Mr. Trump with unrestrained delight and as a radical reconfiguring of the political landscape — not just in the United States, but in Europe as well.

They are seeing it as a sign that their time has finally arrived, and that the politics of heightened nationalism, immigrant-bashing and anti-globalization have overturned the pro-globalization, pro-immigration consensus.

“It shows that when the people really want something, they can get it,” Ms. Le Pen said in an interview on Friday in this far-right bastion, in France’s depressed postindustrial north.

“When the people want to retake their destiny in hand, they can do it, despite this ceaseless campaign of denigration and infantilization,” she said.

Far-right leaders competed in their fervor to support Mr. Trump. Those already in office, like Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, took the news of Mr. Trump’s victory as a vindication of their stances. Those seeking office, like Ms. Le Pen or Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, saw it as a hopeful sign for their own aspirations, proclaiming that a revolutionary new order was born this week.

That revolution, they said, has overthrown what they called the “elites” — the mainstream news media and establishment politicians — who are in a tacit alliance...

Heh.

That's a pretty big pro-Trump bandwagon, which again puts hysterical leftist warnings in the weeds.

But keep reading.

ABC News Political Analyst Matthew Dowd Apologizes for the Arrogant, Close-Minded, Judgmental, and Mean-Spirited Way He Treated Donald Trump Supporters (VIDEO)

Well, this is unusual.

Most leftists will be like Harry Reid, who attacked President-Elect Trump as a "sexual predator who lost the popular vote."

But thankfully, not Matthew Dowd, who's a decent guy, and who worked on President George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign, at ABC News, "In This Election, Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa":

As I move on from the aftermath of the presidential election, these words from the Latin Mass I attended as a youth bounced around in my head -- "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa."

The rough translation is "My fault, My fault, My greatest fault".

I want to take this opportunity to say I was wrong about who would win the election. But my biggest regret, and what I would like to apologize for is the arrogant, close-minded, judgmental, and sometimes mean-spirited way I related to many who believed Trump would win.

They were right, and I was wrong.

I had seen many things coming in this election that turned out to be on target, but for the big finale, I was way, way off. This is primarily because I stopped listening, focused too much on data, and didn't allow counter evidence to be absorbed in a meaningful way.

I became too bunkered in New York City (away from my home in Central Texas) in the last few months, and didn't pay attention to the local stories where another portion of America lives and breathes. Too many of my discussions centered around polling, the horserace, and odds, and not enough on the conversations on the ground.

Nearly three years ago on ABC News' "This Week," I said: "I predict that a year from now we're going to be talking about another candidate — some other candidate who has lit the fire in either party".

This was also a time I argued that Americans were sick of the fact with the 2016 election approaching, it looked like we might be forced into choosing between a Bush and a Clinton. I actually bet a friend at the time that neither a Bush nor a Clinton would be president in 2017.

I also said in early 2015 that Jeb Bush would not make it through the primaries and he would drop out early. And then in September 2015, again on "This Week," I predicted that Donald Trump would be the GOP nominee. I was laughed at and criticized by many. Further, I said early on that Bernie Sanders would rise quickly in the polls and, though Hillary Clinton would emerge as nominee, Sanders would do very well in the Democratic primary process.

Earlier this year, I said because both major party nominees were disliked and distrusted by a majority of citizens we would either see rise of a strong third party or turnout would drop to a low we hadn't seen in 20 years.

Then in the fall, I became convinced Trump would lose, and after the three debates, even put odds on Clinton winning at 95 percent.

Mea Culpa. I was dead wrong...

Keep reading.

More Leftist Cowering: Donald Trump Has 'Shattered' Campaign Norms

Oh brother.

Perhaps next week leftists will get a grip. Meanwhile, we're still watching "Looney Tunes."

From far-left Sam Stein, at the far-left Puffington Host, "Donald Trump Has Shattered Campaign Norms In Damaging, Potentially Lasting Ways."

Read it at the link.

Stein's apparently not apologizing for being wrong. Remember, back in 2015, PuffHo relegated the site's Donald Trump coverage to the entertainment pages, and this week the editors removed their official statement calling Trump a "racist." See Politico, "The Huffington Post ending editor's note that called Donald Trump 'racist'."

This is less introspection than "covering your ass." Perhaps Trump will go after media outlets hostile to him during the campaign, denying them access or whatever. Doesn't bother me in the least. Payback's a bitch.

Ann Coulter, In Trump We Trust [BUMPED]

I wonder if Ann Coulter would accept a cabinet position in the Trump administration?

She's certainly one of his biggest boosters, although she's had no formal role with the campaign (AFAIK).

In any case, she's stoking on the victory.

And check out her book, at Amazon, In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!

The Decimation of the Democrat Party

Heh.

Leftists are hating it.

Another must read: @pbump The decimation of the Democratic Party, visualized https://t.co/BgWOUTtnhf

— Thomas Edsall (@Edsall) November 10, 2016

J. Eric Oliver Wendy M. Rahn, 'Rise of the Trumpenvolk'

Does American populism always have to be associated with Nazism?

I don't think so, but if you check with political scientists J. Eric Oliver Wendy M. Rahn, the white working-class voters who supported Donald Trump constitute a "Trumpenvolk," harkening back to the interwar period and the rise of Adolf Hitler.

At the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, "Rise of the Trumpenvolk: Populism in the 2016 Election":

Despite the wide application of the label “populist” in the 2016 election cycle, there has been little systematic evidence that this election is distinctive in its populist appeal. Looking at historical trends, contemporary rhetoric, and public opinion data, we find that populism is an appropriate descriptor of the 2016 election and that Donald Trump stands out in particular as the populist par excellence. Historical data reveal a large “representation gap” that typically accompanies populist candidates. Content analysis of campaign speeches shows that Trump, more so than any other candidate, employs a rhetoric that is distinctive in its simplicity, anti-elitism, and collectivism. Original survey data show that Trump’s supporters are distinctive in their unique combination of anti-expertise, anti-elitism, and pronationalist sentiments. Together, these findings highlight the distinctiveness of populism as a mechanism of political mobilization and the unusual character of the 2016 race.

The full paper is here, in pdf.

University of Pennsylvania Reacts by Providing Kitty Cats, Coloring Books, Puppies, and Soothing Snacks, Setting Up a 'Breathing Space' to Help Student 'Decompress' from the Election

Look, my school's setting up safe spaces this next week, so I don't want to come down too hard here. But come on. You're supposed to be a young adult in college. And part of the life experience is coping with adversity. You're not allways going to have kitty cats and puppies on hand when life throws you a curve.

At University of Pennsylvania's Statesman Online, "Penn Reacts to Clinton Loss with Canceled Classes and Coloring."

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

Jade Armenio, Woodside High School Student Attacked for Supporting Donald Trump (VIDEO)

At the San Jose Mercury News, "Woodside: Attack on Trump-backing student spurs campus protest."

And get this:

A self-described mentor for the girl who attacked Jade urged compassion for the suspended student. “We don’t want a mistake during a highly emotional and intense time to affect her long-term future,” said Khabral Muhammad, a life coach at Live in Peace, a nonprofit group supporting East Palo Alto youth.

Fuck them. They're hypocrites. "Live in Peace" only if your side wins the presidential election. If not, beat up your opponents and then demand "compassion" for the attackers.

Jade Armenio deserves compassion, not the individuals who beat her up.

And watch, at London's Daily Mail, "Jade Armenio attacked in California school after posting Trump support on Instagram."

Also, at ABC 7 News San Francisco, "PARENTS SAY PENINSULA TEEN ATTACKED AT SCHOOL FOR SUPPORT OF DONALD TRUMP."

Donald Trump Won't Repeal #ObamaCare

He's gonna mend it, not end it.

At WSJ, "Donald Trump Willing to Keep Parts of Health Law" (via Google and Memeorandum):

NEW YORK—President-elect Donald Trump said he would consider leaving in place certain parts of the Affordable Care Act, an indication of possible compromise after a campaign in which he pledged repeatedly to repeal the 2010 health-care law.

In his first interview since his election earlier this week, Mr. Trump said one priority was moving “quickly” on President Barack Obama’s signature health initiative, which Mr. Trump said has become so unworkable and expensive that “you can’t use it.”

Yet, Mr. Trump also showed a willingness to preserve at least two provisions of the law after Mr. Obama asked him to reconsider repealing it during their meeting at the White House on Thursday.

Mr. Trump said he favors keeping the prohibition against insurers denying coverage because of patients’ existing conditions, and a provision that allows parents to provide years of additional coverage for children on their insurance policies.

“I like those very much,” Mr. Trump said.

Other urgent priorities during his first few weeks as president, Mr. Trump said, would be deregulating financial institutions to allow “banks to lend again,” and securing the border against drugs and illegal immigrants.

He said he would create jobs through nationwide infrastructure projects and improved international trade deals. He also said he would preserve American jobs by potentially imposing tariffs on products of U.S. companies that relocate overseas, thereby reducing the incentive to move plants abroad.

After a bitter campaign in which he came under criticism for his harsh and angry rhetoric, and a postelection period marked by anti-Trump protests in numerous cities, Mr. Trump said he is placing a high priority on bringing the country together.

“I want a country that loves each other,” Mr. Trump said. “I want to stress that.” He said the best way to ease tension would be to “bring in jobs.”

More.

On 'Morning Joe': Understanding Trump Voters (VIDEO)

William Jacobson's been watching MSNBC, "Rachel Maddow: Is there a DOOMSDAY PLAN for progressives?":

I will admit, however, that I’ve been watching MSNBC a fair amount this week because their freakout is more interesting than the Fox News football spiking...

I just can't. Seriously, it's bad enough watching CNN.

But MSNBC's got a good YouTube page, and I just watched this Morning Joe segment --- and that's a show I could watch. I'm just not up that early (3:00am to 6:00am Pacific time).

At any rate, lots of analysis on (mis)understanding the white working-class electorate. Interesting point Scarborough brings up: It's not racism. Across those Midwest, in counties that voted Republican this year, those same white blue-collar voters went Democrat in 2008, thinking Obama as going to "ease their pain."

It's good:

Leftist Anti-Trump Protester Says 'People Have to Die' (VIDEO)

It seems there's no end to the stories of incitement and leftist depravity.

These people are one of the main reasons Trump won. Americans are taking our country back from precisely theses ghouls.

At FrontPage Magazine, "'People Have to Die': Unhinged Leftist Protests Greeted by Media Silence."

Black Mother Kicks Her Son Out of the House Because He Voted for Donald Trump in School Election (VIDEO)

I saw this on Twitter first.

And check out American Mirror, "SHOCK VIDEO: Mom throws out young son because he voted for Trump at school":

A young boy was left wailing on the side of the road after his mother kicked him our of her house for voting for Donald Trump in his school’s mock election — and she cruelly filmed the whole thing.

The video starts with the boy, who looks to be about 10 years old, standing at attention in the hallway.

“Because you voted for Donald Trump, you can get your shit and get out. The suitcase is packed by the door,” she said with it in the background.

“It’s been packed since this morning. Bye. And get your sign so the people know why you’re standing out there,” she declared as the boy collapsed into tears.

“Take your sign. Get up!” she ordered as he sat on the floor wailing.

He got up to run into the house and she shouted, “Come over here! Let’s go!”

She wasn’t kidding.

“You wanna vote for him. I’ll show you,” she said as she unlocked the front door to kick the boy out.

“Here’s your suitcase. Bye. Get your suitcase and get out,” the woman barked as the boy screamed.

“Bye. Go. We don’t do Donald Trump here. Get your suitcase,” she continued as the boy tried to avoid leaving the house.

I almost can't believe this.

But I have to believe that she followed that boy down the sidewalk and told him to come back inside. I have to believe that or else I doubt there's much hope for the humanity of leftists.

I just don't know how anyone can be so cruel. He's just a child. A small child who saw Trump on television and liked him.

Trump-Triggered George Mason University Administrator Calls Conservatives 'Worthless Pieces of Trash'

Yeah.

Here's more of that progressive healing they're always talking about.

At Twitchy, "Trump-triggered! George Mason U. admission’s director proves ‘tolerance is a one-way street’."

Hat Tip: Instapundit, "DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE."

Supreme Court's Docket Likely to Change

One of the most importantly impacts of Trump's election will be its effect on the Supreme Court. We'll have a new member sometime early next year, and it's likely to be a conservative, which will preserve the 5-4 balance existing at the time of Antonin Scalia's death.

And Ruth Bader Ginsberg is frail. She's pledged to hang on, but how long is unknown. (Rumors swirled last year that Clarence Thomas was thinking about retirement, and so now's a good time, since he can rest assured Trump will appoint a conservative to replace him.)

At any rate, at WSJ, "Republican Victories Likely to Alter Supreme Court’s Docket":

WASHINGTON—Republican victories in Tuesday’s election are nearly certain to alter the Supreme Court’s docket, reviving conservative ambitions and dashing liberal hopes, even before President-elect Donald Trump nominates a successor next year for the court’s open seat.

Legal observers are discussing which cases already in the court’s pipeline are likely to disappear as the Trump administration reverses policies advanced under Democratic President Barack Obama.

The docket shift should accelerate as the appointment of a successor to the late Justice Antonin Scalia nears, likely reviving cases challenging public-sector unions and campaign-finance regulations.

Without clarity about the court’s future direction since Justice Scalia died in February, the justices ducked cases that otherwise might have been accepted. That will change once a ninth justice joins a court now split evenly between conservatives and liberals.

Before the court’s docket gets more interesting, however, it is likely to get less so if some of the most prominent cases are removed, such as a dispute over which restrooms in public schools transgender students can use.

In April, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., relied on legal guidance from the U.S. Education Department in ruling for Gavin Grimm, a transgender student who contended the Gloucester County, Va., school board violated federal sex-equity laws by requiring students to use facilities corresponding to their biological sex. If the Trump administration rescinds that guidance or takes the opposite position, the justices might throw out the lower court opinion without requiring oral argument.

Other cases involving Obama administration policies could meet similar fates.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court sent back to lower courts challenges to Mr. Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which requires cuts in carbon emissions to reduce climate change; the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program, which would allow illegal immigrants with children who are U.S. citizens to work; and Affordable Care Act regulations attempting to ensure that women who work for religion-affiliated organizations can obtain prescription birth control through employer-provided health insurance.

With the Trump administration expected to consider canceling such policies, the cases could vanish. The incoming president could also ensure the government doesn’t appeal a lower court decision last month that reduced the independence of another Obama-era legacy, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Another high-profile case, challenging a Missouri law limiting public subsidies for religious schools, is almost sure to leave the docket as a result of Tuesday’s election. The newly elected Republican attorney general, Josh Hawley, had while in private practice filed a friend-of-the-court brief opposing the state on behalf of the Assemblies of God denomination. After taking office in January, he could settle with the Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Mo., which is seeking a state grant to resurface its preschool playground.

Progressive legal activists had imagined a Hillary Clinton presidential victory that, by filling the Scalia vacancy, could create the first liberal majority on the Supreme Court since 1969. Now, however, they can expect to return to the role they have played for nearly half a century: defense against a conservative legal offensive.

The nature of environmental litigation before the high court also is almost certain to shift. During the Obama years, industries, developers and their allies have challenged administration regulations under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws...

Still more.

I love that all these Obama-era clusterfuck policies and regulations are going to be flushed. I love it to the high heavens. I love it!

Elections have consequences.

Students Scared Donald Trump Will Deport Their Parents

Following-up from my previous entry, "Long Beach City College Announces Post-Election Student Support and Resources."

At the O.C. Register, "Students scared Donald Trump will kick their parents out of the country":

SANTA ANA – Sad. Nervous. Angry. Confused.

As they sat in a circle Thursday morning, students in Maria Soberanis’ eighth-grade class at Spurgeon Intermediate School had a lot to say about the presidential election.

“I feel scared they’re going to take away my mom and dad and grandma,” one girl softly shared with some 20 classmates.

Such circles have been repeated since Election Day across the Spurgeon campus and other schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District, with teachers trying to help students in the wake of Donald Trump’s election.

“He made a lot of people in my family cry,” Angel Avelar, 13, said.

Meanwhile, the Anaheim Union High School District told parents in recorded phone calls Thursday night that teachers and administrators “are being extra vigilant in supporting those who express fear or anxiety.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s board president sent out a message saying support would be offered to those who need it.

And Tom Torlakson, who oversees the state’s public schools, issued a statement late Thursday: “The election outcome has caused deep concern among many students and their families. ...

“In California, diversity is strength," he said. “And I want to tell young women and girls that they will always be safe, be respected, and be protected at school.”

In Santa Ana Unified, children gathered in circles, to talk.

“It doesn’t mean that it makes everything better, but it offers them a chance for their voices to be heard and a chance to recognize that they’re not alone," said Spurgeon's principal, Stuart Caldwell.

On Wednesday, some children had broken down crying, he said. One child said her family was already packing suitcases. Many boys and girls thought deportations would be imminent.

In Soberanis’ class, the eighth-graders expressed disappointment and sadness that so many Americans voted for Trump, a candidate who has disparaged women, called Mexicans criminals and demanded the immediate deportations of people living in the country illegally.

The school district, Orange County’s largest, is 96 percent Latino.

One student questioned whether America would ever be the same again...

Well, it's not going to be the same for the next four years at least, and hopefully longer. One thing that won't be the same is illegal aliens won't have a completely open sanctuary. There's a crackdown coming. How hard it's going to be I don't know, but some reports yesterday noted that an acceleration of deportations is on the Trump agenda come January. Personally, I'd rather see expedited deportations than a big push to build the wall, which would get bogged down in lawsuits, from what I understand. If illegals know they're going to be caught and punished, it's less likely they'll come in the first place.

But keep reading.

It's morning in America.

Long Beach City College Announces Post-Election Student Support and Resources

I haven't heard about any hateful incidents, but my college is joining other institutions around the country in creating "safe spaces" for students traumatized by the election of Donald Trump.

See, "Message From President Oakley: Post-Election Student Support and Resources":

Dear LBCC Students,

Across our country and throughout college campuses nationwide, people are processing the outcome of an unprecedented Presidential election. For many Americans, and indeed for many college students, this election has brought deep anxiety, discomfort, and uncertainty about the future. Undoubtedly, many of you have seen the responses in community and campus demonstrations, and statements by some that question the safety and rights of students from diverse backgrounds.

I feel compelled to address these concerns and reassure our students that Long Beach City College remains a safe, secure, and supportive environment for all of you. The diversity of our campus is one of our proudest and strongest qualities. We will continue to serve all of you and advocate on your behalf. Every single one of you belongs here and you are welcome on this campus – now and in the future.

While we are seeing some unrest within college and university campuses, we must remember that this unrest is an example of the unwavering rights we have in the United States to speak freely and engage in social action as a community. Our system remains strong and our campus will remain steadfast in its fair and equitable treatment for all students.

I encourage you, during this time of transition and uncertainty, to stay focused on your educational goals. Do not lose sight of what brought you to LBCC and the success that I know lies ahead for each and every one of you.

Campus resources are available to you, so please take advantage of these as you need them. Do not hesitate to contact LBCC’s Director of Student Health Services and Student Life Ginny DuRivage ... if you have any concerns or need to utilize student support resources.

For more information, please see this flyer for upcoming support group sessions, and this statement from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.


Sincerely,
Eloy Ortiz Oakley
Superintendent-President

Pollsters Under Fire After String of Astonishing Misses Around the Globe

I'll have more on this.

I think the biggest problems were with the state-level polls. Sure, the national horse-race polling was off, as clearly evidenced by the RCP average that had Hillary Clinton ahead in the low single-digits throughout the year, but the big story was how pollsters missed the blue-collar surge in the states, especially in those states comprising Hillary Clinton's allegedly impregnable "firewall" in the upper Midwest.

Stay tuned for more on that.

Meanwhile, at WSJ, "Pollsters Face Hurdles in Changing Landscape":

Pollsters are rethinking how they operate after a string of astonishing misses around the globe this year—from incorrectly calling the Brexit vote in the U.K., the peace accord with rebels in Colombia and now the U.S. presidential election.

Pollsters say a confluence of changes are making their jobs more difficult: People are changing how they communicate, moving from landlines to cellphones and the internet. That makes it harder to generate large random samples.

Plus, fewer people are willing to answer surveys. As a result, pollsters must more heavily weight the answers they get, which requires making assumptions that don’t always prove true—especially on the variable of who will show up to vote.

“I would say, as a businessman, ‘Yeah, we have to be concerned about the fact that the business I work in—people are going to question its efficacy,” said Fred Yang, a partner at Hart Research Associates, a Democratic polling firm in Washington.

The industry’s trade association said this week it would conduct a review of the 2016 election to better understand what happened.

The outcome also raises questions about the research businesses rely on to test new products and measure customer behaviors, since many of the same survey methods are used for market research.

“A corporate market research project, you don’t know if your polling is shit because there’s no election day,” said Dan Wagner, head of Democratic research firm Civis Analytics, which also conducts nonpolitical surveys. In politics, “there’s a day where you’re going to find out whether you were right or whether you’re an idiot.”

Two decades ago, more than one-third of U.S. households contacted for a survey agreed to answer questions, according to the Pew Research Center. Now, that number is around 9%.

“It’s basically gotten more difficult to be accurate,” said Patrick Ruffini, head of Republican research firm Echelon Insights. “It doesn’t take much for everybody to be a little bit—or dramatically—off about what the outcome is going to be.”

About half of all American households rely exclusively on cellphones, but reaching those people is expensive and time consuming because researchers can’t call those people using auto-dialers. A law aimed at telemarketers requires anyone calling a cellphone to dial all 10 digits by hand.

Increasing costs have pushed many researchers toward new survey methods, primarily online, that aren’t as well understood. A study by Pew earlier this year found inaccuracies in online surveys that were hard to explain...

Actually, I think online surveys are ultimately going to replace telephone polling. It's already happening. The Los Angeles Times poll was one of the most accurate --- if not the most accurate --- of the 2016 cycle.

They're polling's not "shit."

But keep reading.

Kellyanne Conway Asks Protesters to Listen to Donald Trump's Victory Speech (VIDEO)

Following-up, "Kellyanne Conway Has Been Offered a Position in the Trump Administration."

At CNN:

Democrats Anguished by Transition to Donald Trump Era

It's bad all around.

I've never seen a more profound death pall across the body politic. It's almost unreal.

"Dark days," at the Hill:

Dark days for Obama’s White House: Crestfallen Democrats anguised by Trump's election: https://t.co/89gI0Xuibk @EdDriscoll @PatriarchTree

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) November 10, 2016

Kellyanne Conway Has Been Offered a Position in the Trump Administration

I can't think of anyone I'd more strongly want to join the administration. She's been the most articulate and sunny face of the campaign since she took over as campaign manager, and I doubt you'd find a better person to serve as press secretary (and counselor to the president).

From an earlier a WSJ report. Ms. Conway not only confirms she's been offered a job, but shoots down speculation that she'd rather stay in the private sector:

@KellyannePolls Conway, @realDonaldTrump campaign manager, says she has been offered White House job https://t.co/zr1UxxQvVT via @WSJ

— Frances Townsend (@FranTownsend) November 10, 2016

Two sources say @KellyannePolls is saying privately she's reluctant to take administration job b/c she wants to keep running her business

— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) November 10, 2016

False. Could it be those "sources" want the WH job I've been offered? https://t.co/ZXJGUZm5Zz

— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) November 10, 2016

Maybe Trump? Among Republican Foreign Policy Elites, Opposition Softens to Joining the New Administration

Following-up from earlier, "Trump Transition Team Planning First Months in Office."

This is quite interesting.

At the New York Times, "‘Never Trump’ Becomes ‘Maybe Trump’ in Foreign Policy Sphere":

WASHINGTON — Like no other part of the Republican establishment, the party’s foreign policy luminaries joined in opposition to the idea of a Donald J. Trump presidency.

Loyal Republicans who served in the two Bush administrations, they appeared on television and wrote op-eds blasting him. They aligned under a “Never Trump” banner and signed a letter saying they were “convinced that he would be a dangerous president and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.”

For his part, President-elect Trump has maligned them as bumbling and myopic, architects of “a long history of failed policies and continued losses at war.”

The coming weeks will determine whether both sides decide they need each other.

On the establishment side, the opposition is now softening for some — driven either by a stated sense of patriotic duty to advise a new president with no foreign policy expertise, or a somewhat less noble motive to avoid years of being excluded from Washington power circles.

“Never Trump” has become “Maybe Trump.” But whether he would have them is another matter.

Since the election was resolved early Wednesday, there have been at least informal contacts between the two factions, according to several people in both camps who refused to be identified. One person who is helping Mr. Trump’s transition team said the group was already receiving résumés from former Republican officials, including some of the signers of two open letters this year excoriating Mr. Trump’s foreign policy views. At the same time, the transition team has also made unofficial overtures to some of the people who signed the two letters — one in March and the second in August.

For now, Mr. Trump is relying on a small circle of advisers to begin considering candidates for national security positions. General [Michael T.] Flynn openly disdains the views of many in the Republican national security establishment, especially those who served in senior positions during the George W. Bush administration. It was these people, he said during an interview shortly before the election, who helped push the United States into “too many conflicts that just seem too perpetual.”

“Mr. Trump, that’s what he wants to change,” he said...

More. (Keep reading especially for the discussion of Omarosa Manigault and the "blacklist" of those who opposed Trump during the campaign.)

I'm not worried about this, at all.

Frankly, I should avoid the Twitter feeds of leftist academics, who were among those arguing that Trump would never be elected. They were wrong, badly so. And I can guarantee you, as Trump looks more presidential by the day, the attractions of being in power again will become irresistible.