This 'May Have Been the Most Exciting Rose Bowl Game Ever...'

That's Penn State Head Football Coach James Franklin, at the Los Angeles Times:

Matt Boermeester's field goal caps wild comeback, lifts USC over Penn State in an American beauty of a Rose Bowl https://t.co/EvkcWpHUnf

— L.A. Times Sports (@latimessports) January 3, 2017

Clay Helton looks a little misty eyed. pic.twitter.com/4OBH7nHMhN

— Zach Helfand (@zhelfand) January 3, 2017

Here is happy Clay Helton and happy Sam Darnold. pic.twitter.com/5D5fGq61yB

— Zach Helfand (@zhelfand) January 3, 2017

The enormity of it all seemed to stun USC Coach Clay Helton. Some fans had called for Helton’s job after USC started his first full season 1-3. After Monday’s game, he stood atop confetti with an arm around his son, Turner, his eyes a little wet as he watched the band.

“It felt like a tennis match, just going back and forth and back and forth, the mood swings and the emotion,” Helton said. “It was an amazing game. It’s what fairy tales are made of.”

Penn State Coach James Franklin conceded that it “may have been the most exciting Rose Bowl game ever.”

He had a point. Penn State’s Saquon Barkley ran 25 times for 194 yards and two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass.

Darnold passed for 453 yards with one interception and five touchdowns, a Rose Bowl game record. His total yards of 473 set another record, breaking Vince Young’s 467 in 2006 against USC.

Darnold stood near Helton as the band played, and he looked as though he had just awoken from a nap. USC players said they couldn’t remember a time when they’ve seen him rattled.

As he huddled the offense with 1:59 to play, USC down by seven points and 80 yards to go, his voice was calm.

“I just said, ‘Do your job,’” Darnold said.

More.

And see Bill Plaschke's front-page column at today's newspaper, "USC fights on and on — and wins a thrilling Rose Bowl on a last-second field goal."

USC's greatest Rose Bowl win in one of greatest Rose Bowls ever https://t.co/8MUtSliDYK

— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) January 3, 2017

British Fashion Model Louisa Warwick Blue Bikini in South Florida

At Egotastic!, "Louisa Warwick Blue Bikini Super Fine Female Form in South Florida."

Gwen Stefani is the New Face of Revlon (VIDEO)

I'm happy for her!

And Gwen Stefani's from Fullerton, Orange County, so it's good for the hometown rep, heh.

At London's Daily Mail, "She's red hot! Gwen Stefani unveiled as new face of Revlon."

Gwen Stefani unveiled as the new face of Revlon https://t.co/xSBFfKwccv pic.twitter.com/cKpC1hhmFa

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) January 2, 2017

Megyn Kelly to Join NBC News

Megyn Kelly's out at Fox News.

Her bottom line was $20 million, which Fox had already guaranteed in a renewed contract. But I'm sure Fox was toxic after the Roger Ailes sexual harassment episode, and I think perhaps to some extent Kelly's controversy with conservatives on her treatment of Donald Trump was an issue. Obviously, for her it was time to move on.

At Politco and CNN:

Our Megyn Kelly story has been updated w/ comments from her, NBC, and how Fox broke the story on air: https://t.co/WLYJo34Y03

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) January 3, 2017

Update: @MegynKelly spokeswoman says she WILL host her show tonight... Her last day on Fox will be this Friday https://t.co/R5l5mS2MAv

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 3, 2017

Also, all over Memeorandum.


ADDED: Stelter, speaking on CNN, said the "bottom line here" is that Kelly wanted to get away from Fox News, to the point of taking a pay cut to do so. Apparently, she's going to have a roving "Katie Couric-type role" at NBC, and better hours, so she can spend more time with her family.

USC Beats Penn State in Rose Bowl, 52-49 (VIDEO)

I just can't get this thing out of my head. Folks are going to be talking about this game for a long time.

Here's the totally apt headline at SB Nation, "USC beats Penn State in the game of the year, with the most points in any Rose Bowl ever":

Penn State and USC entered on a combined 17-game winning streak. The Lions and Trojans both hadn’t lost since the weekend of Sept. 23-24, when USC lost at Utah and Penn State lost at Michigan. Both had been a buzzsaw ever since, and they only missed the Playoff because they got started just a little too late this season.

The Trojans capped their brilliant run in style, finishing the year 10-3 after a 1-3 start. They’ll be a popular Playoff pick heading into next season, and the emergence of Clay Helton as a really smart-looking head coach hire now has another chapter...

And at USA Today:

#USC rallies to edge #PennState in wild #RoseBowl. #USCFootball #FightOn #BeatTheLions #NittanyLions https://t.co/zg7D6b5Fl1

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 3, 2017

I'll have more.

The Los Angeles Times sportswriters are still working on their coverage. It's going to be a full separate pullout section tomorrow, I'm sure, part of the overall Rose Parade/New Year's Day reporting. It's glorious. I swear USC winning the Rose Bowl is just one of those things. If you're a Southern Californian, it doesn't get any better.

After Penn State scored three touchdown on three plays to start the second half, I thought the momentum was over. USC was done.

I had hope though, and it was prescient:

.@LindseyThiry Still lots of time Darnold's the kind of QB to make things happen. Defense needs to settle down. #FightOn #RoseBowl #Trojans

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 3, 2017

And check the highlights:



More later.

Deal of the Day: FitDesk 2.0 Desk Exercise Bike

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

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

BONUS: Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose.

Finished My Name Is Lucy Barton

It's frankly a weird little book.

There's something about contemporary fiction that just doesn't do it for me. The spare minimalism is one thing. The Elizabeth Strout book reminded me of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005 (similarly spare and minimalist).

 

Strout's book is much better, thank goodness. With My Name Is Lucy Barton, I can actually recall the story, the tempo and crescendo, of the novel. There was a kind of emotional gut punch near the end there, so I can see why the book got prodigious praise. I mean really, it got a ridiculous amount of praise for such a slim novel. Indeed, its slimness seems to be one of its main virtues. I guess critics thought Strout packed an emotional wallop for such a tiny tome.

The other thing is the obligatory politically correct left-wing politics. The main character Lucy lives in New York City, after having grown up in poverty (and family household abuse) in Illinois. It's thus got the sensibility of the East Coast leftist elites, a sensibility that's just been rejected at the ballot box with Donald Trump's election in November.

But then, I found out about the book at the New York Times, so I'm only inflicting punishment on myself.

I don't want to overdo it, though.

As you know, I just love to read. The book has its moments. I just think it's popular because it checks all the right leftist boxes. It name-checks homosexuals and the AIDS crisis, making the reader get all emotional for the "toll" on the victims, as the novel's flashbacks are set in the 1980s. And there's also the au courant feminist epistemology. The book makes it cool for marriages to end in divorce. You know, the demise of these unions is all about feeding the "me" culture. Marriages aren't about struggle, emotional toil, and the hard work of making relationships work --- to say nothing of sticking it out for the children. I mean shoot, when Lucy bails on her marriage, she knowingly bails out on her children, despite the umpteen times she expresses her everlasting love for them throughout the story. Strout doesn't dwell on that (and on that inconsistency). She doesn't dwell on how Lucy might be screwing up her kids to feed her own happiness. It's a "me" thing, you see. Lucy's sad about her divorce. Sure. That's part of the emotion of the book. But there's not much internal discussion of the sanctity of the marriage commitment in terms of family and the integrity of the matrimonial vows. That would be "old fashioned," you know.

In any case, it's best to be well-rounded, which is why I read all this stuff in the first place. It certainly gives me something to blog about. And of course I can drop names with my leftist colleagues. When I do I'm usually way more well-read than my college's hipster leftist professors.

So, if you're up for a quick read, and a fairly pleasurable one, all things considered, check it out.

At Amazon, My Name Is Lucy Barton.

Kendall Jenner: American Power's Woman of the Year for 2016

I almost forgot to post my woman of the year!

And who else could it possibly be?

Kendall's been my woman of the year all year, heh.

PRETTY FUCKING fast year flew by

— Kendall (@KendallJenner) December 4, 2016

show is tonight on CBS! pic.twitter.com/2OMQIP5FsV

— Kendall (@KendallJenner) December 5, 2016

PREVIOUSLY: "Nina Agdal: American Power's Woman of the Year for 2015." (And click through there to see the previous years' winners.)

The U.S. Economy: Donald Trump's Newest Branding Effort

At LAT, "Donald Trump's newest branding endeavor: the economy":

Throughout his campaign for president, Donald Trump painted a gloomy picture of the American economy, scoffing at employment data that he said masked the truth.

“Our jobs are being stolen like candy from a baby,” the Republican said at an election-day rally in Michigan, lamenting how he saw global competitors like China outmaneuvering the U.S. economically. “They take our money. They take our jobs. They build their plants. They build their factories. We end up with unemployment and drugs.”

But his stunning election win seemed to change his —  and to some extent the public’s — outlook. The media-conscious president-elect has quickly adopted a role as the greatest cheerleader for an economy that was already on the rebound.

“The U.S. Consumer Confidence Index for December surged nearly four points,” Trump crowed in a tweet this week, noting in all caps that it reached a 15-year high. He added, with characteristic immodesty: “Thanks Donald!”

Donning the mantle of economic optimist is a time-honored tradition for presidents, who are seen as perhaps the most singularly influential person over the economy. Trump’s outlook, however, is notable for the reversal from the campaign and for his promotion of the unproven assertion that he himself is having a positive influence on the economy, even before he takes office.

“It’s clear that there’s been a bounce in sentiment since the election,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. “Now, is that because he won the election or just because people are happy the election’s over? That’s impossible to know.”

The statistics Trump touts fit well into his view of a world divided into who’s up and who’s down, winners and losers. In place of the daily trickle of state and national political polls that dominated his campaign remarks, he has turned to the Consumer Confidence Index as well as the daily stock market closings for what he sees as his successes.​​​​​​

Like he did with polls, Trump has cherry-picked economic data. The Consumer Confidence Index did not suddenly rise after Trump’s election; it has, like other indicators, trended upward since bottoming out shortly after the 2008 economic collapse. Its first major spike came shortly after the inauguration of President Obama, and saw a similar uptick after his reelection in 2012.

Additionally, it is a volatile index, subject to negative pressure from political circumstance as well — most notably a 2011 battle over raising the nation’s debt limit that pushed the country to the brink of a historic default.

And another key part of his economic message, the touting of new jobs as if he were singularly responsible for their creation, ignores that they usually resulted instead from efforts already underway. On Wednesday, he trumpeted news that telecom company Sprint and technology start-up OneWeb would hire a total of 8,000 workers in the U.S. —  calling it "very good news" for the economy.

But OneWeb, which is building a network of satellites to deliver high-speed Internet access, said nine days earlier that it expected to create nearly 3,000 jobs in the U.S. over the next four years after securing $1.2 billion in funding, mostly from Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. And the head of SoftBank, which owns Sprint, had said on Dec. 6 that the company had agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 jobs here...

Keep reading.

Donald Trump Says 'No Computer is Safe'

He doesn't email, but he's not quitting Twitter anytime soon.

Word is he'll send communications by courier.

At the Resurgent:

Trump Says ‘No Computer Is Safe’ And He’s Totally Right https://t.co/HwtSL5eJGs via @stevengberman

— The Resurgent (@resurgent) January 2, 2017

Keith Jackson Returns to the Rose Bowl

Jackson's last broadcast was the Rose Bowl 2006, which was the national championship game that year, Texas vs. USC. I can't forget that game. USC was so close. Arrghh!

In any case, Jackson, who called games with ABC Sports from 1986 to 2006, is attending today, the first (full) game he's attended since retiring.

At LAT:

A college football icon comes home: Keith Jackson returns to the Rose Bowl game, just not in the broadcast booth https://t.co/Vgi1Vh4P5k pic.twitter.com/ZsInNQ2n8O

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) January 2, 2017

David Horowitz, The Left in Power

Start the new year off right.

With David Horowtiz, at Amazon, The Left in Power: Clinton to Obama: Black Book of the American Left: Volume VII.

Emily Ratajkowski Hits 10 Million Followers in Instagram

At Maxim:

.@emrata just hit 10 million followers on Instagram, so celebrate with her sexiest shots. https://t.co/9Ymox1XigN pic.twitter.com/z4Y357eINj

— Maxim (@MaximMag) January 2, 2017

BONUS: Emily topless here.

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday New Year’s Funnies."



Also at Theo's, "Cartoon Roundup."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Angry Duck."

Rule 5 Links

Here's a quickie.

At Drunken Stepfather, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY."

Also, 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Morning Mistress."

At Theo's, "Chrissy Teigen, Bar Refaeli, Genevieve Morton & More Around the World - Sports Illustrated Swimsuit."

Also, at Hollywood Tuna, "Bella Thorne In Her Calvin’s." And WWTDD, "Bella Thorne Has Arrived.

And from the founding Rule 5 blog, the Other McCain, "Rule 5 Monday: Boxing Day Edition."

Gift wrapping makes me so happy 🤗 Best candles in the game compliments of @wikstudios 💪🏼🌊🌵🐚😈💀 pic.twitter.com/d1k8O3lNhj

— Devin Brugman (@devinbrugman) December 19, 2016

Elizabeth Strout, My Name Is Lucy Barton

*Bumped.* [I'm about halfway through this book.]

This book is highly recommended at that New York Times piece on 2016 books in review.

And since I finished Exodus, I thought I'd check this one out.

I like fiction, although I don't post links to novels that much.

I'll update once I've read a few chapters (to let you know if it's any good).

At Amazon, Elizabeth Strout, My Name Is Lucy Barton: A Novel.

Carnegie Deli

There's a Carnegie Deli at the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas.

I think we're going to Vegas in February. I'm not sure when, although we're celebrating my oldest son's 21st birthday.

Maybe I'll head over there for mountain-high pastrami on rye, heh.

The New York Carnegie's is now closed. Apparently lines were down the street, but mostly filled by tourists. Seems kinda weird, but apparently New York diners are choosing less expensive, and less kosher, alternatives.

At the New York Times:

As the Carnegie Deli Serves Its Last Pastrami on Rye https://t.co/uS7vFPkfFR

— Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) December 30, 2016

Kendall Jenner LOVE Advent 2016 (VIDEO)

I'm posting out of order at this point, but I just love Kendall:

At Least 35 Gunned Down in Istanbul Nightclub Massacre

Turkey is a mess.

It's a jihad nightmare.

At USA Today:

UPDATE: At least 39 killed in Istanbul nightclub attack, official says. https://t.co/P6Oo3BjIg0

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 1, 2017

Gunman who attacked #Istanbul nightclub still at large. https://t.co/3Trho4gefr

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 1, 2017

Holiday Hooliganism Traced Back to the Obama Administration

From Heather Mac Donald, at City Journal, "Violence in the Halls, Disorder in the Malls":

"If Trump wants to make schools safe again, he must rescind the Obama admin’s rules regarding classroom discipline." https://t.co/vKsC3it1Hd

— City Journal (@CityJournal) January 1, 2017

Judging by video evidence, the participants in the violent mall brawls over the Christmas weekend were overwhelmingly black teens, though white teens were also involved. The media have assiduously ignored this fact, of course, as they have for previous violent flash mob episodes. That disproportion has significance for the next administration’s school-discipline policies, however. If Donald Trump wants to make schools safe again, he must rescind the Obama administration’s diktats regarding classroom discipline, which are based on a fantasy version of reality that is having serious real-world consequences.

The Obama Justice and Education Departments have strong-armed schools across the country to all but eliminate the suspension and expulsion of insubordinate students. The reason? Because black students are disciplined at higher rates than whites. According to Washington bureaucrats, such disproportionate suspensions can mean only one thing: teachers and administrators are racist. The Obama administration rejects the proposition that black students are more likely to assault teachers or fight with other students in class. The so-called “school to prison” pipeline is a function of bias, not of behavior, they say.

This week’s mall violence, which injured several police and security officers, is just the latest piece of evidence for how counterfactual that credo is.  A routine complaint in police-community meetings in minority areas is that large groups of teens are fighting on corners. Residents of the South Bronx’s 41st Precinct complained repeatedly to the precinct commander in a June 2015 meeting about such street disorder. “There’s too much fighting,” one woman said. “There was more than 100 kids the other day; they beat on a girl about 14 years old.” In April 2016, a 17-year-old girl in Coney Island, Brooklyn, Ta’Jae Warner, tried to protect her brother from a group of girls gathered outside her apartment building who were threatening to kill him; one of the group knocked her unconscious. She died four days later. At a meeting in the 23rd Precinct in East Harlem in 2015, residents asked why the police hadn’t stopped a recent stampede of youth down Third Avenue. In April 2012, a group of teens stomped a gang rival to death in a Bronx housing project.

The idea that such street behavior does not have a classroom counterpart is ludicrous. Black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at ten times the rate of white and Hispanic males of the same age. The lack of socialization that produces such a vast disparity in murder rates, as well as less lethal street violence, inevitably will show up in classroom behavior. Teens who react to a perceived insult on social media by trying to shoot the offender are not likely to restrain themselves in the classroom if they feel “disrespected” by a teacher or fellow students. Interviews with teachers confirm the proposition that children from communities with high rates of family breakdown bring vast amounts of disruptive anger to school, especially girls.  It is no surprise that several of the Christmas riots began with fights between girls.  School officials in urban areas across the country set up security corridors manned by police officers at school dismissal times to avoid gang shootings. And yet, the Obama administration would have us believe that in the classroom, black students are no more likely to disrupt order than white students. Equally preposterous is the claim that teachers and administrators are bigots. There is no more liberal a profession than teaching; education schools are one long indoctrination in white-privilege theory. And yet when these social-justice warriors get in the classroom, according to the Obama civil rights lawyers, they start wielding invidious double standards in discipline...

Keep reading.

Shop Gold Box Deals

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

And check out, The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series.

Also, Band of Brothers.

BONUS: James D. Hornfischer, The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945.

The Right to Disconnect

I don't ever "disconnect." I might not check my emails for a while, but I'm always available.

It's not that big of a deal to me.

But see the Washington Post, "French employees can legally ignore work emails outside of office hours":

French employees can legally ignore work emails outside of office hours https://t.co/pJA1eOGpxI

— Katie Zavadski (@katiezavadski) January 1, 2017

I've always thought that if you need to shut off when you leave the office, then you must not really like what you do. https://t.co/31QTfxGuOr

— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 1, 2017

That 10 p.m. email from your boss? It's your right to ignore it.

That Saturday ping from a colleague with “just one quick question?” A response on Monday should suffice.

If you're in France, that is.

French workers rang in a new year at midnight — as well as a “right to disconnect” law that grants employees in the country the legal right to ignore work emails outside of typical working hours, according to the Guardian.

The new employment law requires French companies with more than 50 employees to begin drawing up policies with their workers about limiting work-related technology usage outside the office, the newspaper reported.

The motivation behind the legislation is to stem work-related stress that increasingly leaks into people's personal time — and hopefully prevent employee burnout, French officials said.

“Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash, like a dog,” Benoit Hamon, Socialist member of Parliament and former French education minister, told the BBC in May. “The texts, the messages, the emails: They colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down.”

France has had a 35-hour workweek since 2000, but the policy came under scrutiny recently given France's near-record-high unemployment rate.

The “right to disconnect” provision was packaged with new and controversial reforms introduced last year that were designed to relax some of the country's strict labor regulations. The amendment regarding ignoring work emails was included by French Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri, who reportedly was inspired by similar policies at Orange, a French telecommunications company.

“There are risks that need to be anticipated, and one of the biggest risks is the balance of a private life and professional life behind this permanent connectivity,” Orange Director General Bruno Mettling told Europe1 radio in February. “Professionals who find the right balance between private and work life perform far better in their job than those who arrive shattered.”

Well, I don't think your life's going to be "shattered" by checking your email, and as a professor, I know that a lot of the emails are from students. So I check it throughout the day. It's no big deal.

In any case, keep reading.

For the Past 37 Years, the Droz Family Has Taken a Picture in Front of a Numbered Highway Sign for Their Annual Holiday Card

Well, that takes a lot of motivation. I can't even get motivated to mail out holiday cards at all.

At WSJ, "Every Year, the Droz Family Scours America for the Best Road Sign to Make the Perfect New Year Card":

Heartwarming story to wish you a #HAPPYNEWYEAR #FlashbackFriday #Gratitude #Love #Family #2017in3words https://t.co/WxkHQL3vHB

— Ben Droz (@bendroz) December 30, 2016

Dan Droz went for a drive one day last month. He stopped near rural Carlisle, Pa., about three hours from his Pittsburgh home, at his destination.

The junction of Route 17 had been on his radar for a while. Mr. Droz wanted a picture in this particular location this year, and only this year, for his annual holiday card.

Every year for almost four decades, like millions of families around the world, the Drozes mail a holiday card to hundreds of their friends. That’s where the similarities between their card and other cards end.

Their card isn’t a Christmas card or a Hanukkah card. It isn’t even really a holiday card. They call it a New Year’s card.

It’s what’s on their card that makes it curious. The Droz clan’s New Year’s card is more than a mere family portrait. It’s a family portrait underneath a sign that represents the road junction that corresponds with the coming year—like Route 17 for 2017.

Their epic pursuit of the perfect card requires years of scouting, months of planning and hours of driving. For many years it forced them to wake up at 6 a.m. the morning after Thanksgiving. It has taken the Drozes to several states, one town called Eighty Four, Pa., and a few places where they should not have been.

Their quests began in 1979, when Mr. Droz was a single father with a young daughter, Lani. He picked a spot near the intersection of Interstates 79 and 80 where signs for both roads could be in one shot. They were soon apprehended by a skeptical cop with a sensible question: Why are you stopped by this seemingly random sign on the side of the road?

“We’ve had to explain that many times,” Mr. Droz said.

It wasn’t long before there was another problem. The people on his mailing list weren’t used to receiving this type of card. They had the same question as the unsuspecting police officer: What exactly is this?

Mr. Droz, who runs his own marketing agency, made sure there was less confusion the next year. He chose a convenient intersection of Interstate 80 and Interstate 81 and replaced the words on the I-81 sign with “New Year” to help his friends understand why he was waving from a busy highway. “I’ve made it more vérité since then,” he said.

That card worked in ways he never could have imagined. At a holiday party, Mr. Droz happened to meet a woman named Cathy, who worked as a producer for “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” He called her for dinner but never heard back. He called her again about a drink—still nothing.

And then he tried one last trick: He sent her his New Year’s card. She responded by sending back a postcard with Fred Rogers’ face.

“Nice card,” she wrote. “Let’s get together.”

They were married by the time the next card was sent.

Ms. Droz made her debut in the 1982 card. She also gave Mr. Droz a white sweater as a gift that has survived the elements—and ketchup stains—and appeared in every card since. They had three more children who have been in the New Year’s cards from the years they were born...

More.

These people are more than nerds. They're full on geeks, but obviously the lovable kind. Ben Droz, whose tweet is posted above is "a hemp lobbyist and event photographer in Washington, D.C., who also runs a hemp bolo-tie business."

See what a mean, lol?

New Year's Eve Prankster Changes Hollywood Sign Overnight to Read 'Hollyweed' (VIDEO)

Well, this state is "Cali-weed" now, so I guess it's appropriate.

At ABC 7 Los Angeles, "HOLLYWOOD SIGN ALTERED TO READ 'HOLLYWEED' IN APPARENT NEW YEAR'S DAY PRANK."

#HOLLYWOODSIGN UPDATE: Crews working to remove black tarps after vandal alters landmark to read '#Hollyweed' https://t.co/cmkNgpA1D5 pic.twitter.com/bMuWRk6j8u

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) January 1, 2017

Save Today: Select Amazon Kindle Books $3.99 or Less

One of the Gold Box Deals today, at Amazon, Today's Deals.

BONUS: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, and Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations.

Ugly Obama Snubs Voters in Drastic Year-End Policy Moves

An excellent editorial, at the New York Post, "Obama’s ugly bid to snub voters and tie Trump’s hands":

In his waning days in the White House, President Obama is desperately trying to make his policies as permanent as possible by tying the hands of his successor — and far more than other presidents have done on their way out.

From his dramatic and disastrous change of US policy on Israel to his executive order restricting 1.65 million acres of land from development despite local objections, Obama is trying to make it impossible for Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress to govern.

Even Thursday’s announcement of wide-ranging sanctions against Russia presents Trump with a foreign-policy crisis immediately upon taking office.

By contrast, many of Obama’s predecessors have stood back in their final days in office and refrained from any dramatic shifts, in deference to the agenda of the man voters sent to succeed them.

But Obama won’t accept the election results. As he suggested the other day, Trump’s election was a fluke — and he himself would have easily been re-elected if allowed to stand for a third term.

He believes this not just because he’s an effective campaigner, but because he thinks his “vision” and policies continue to be backed by “a majority of the American people.”

But Obama, like many Democrats, fails to understand what happened in the election: Voters were calling for real change from the status quo — from his policies. Indeed, before the vote, he himself said it was a referendum on him and his policies.

Memo to the president: You lost.

Whether it was the lackluster economy, ObamaCare, trade, the sweeping failure of his foreign policy or illegal immigration, voters sought something very different.

Trump, on the other hand, did more than just energize his base: He flipped six states that voted for Obama in 2012.

The results, as many have since come to realize, is that the Democratic Party now caters to a hard-left, elite core located on the two coasts — and has abandoned the working-class Americans in the heartland it so loudly claims to champion...

Still more.

Donald Trump Ditches Media Hacks to Play Golf on New Year's Eve

Good.

Let the leftist media hacks stew in their own hatred and stupidity.

At CNN, "Donald Trump ditches his press pool to play golf."

Audrey Bouette Bikini Beauty in Miami (PHOTOS)

At Egotastic!, "French Model Audrey Bouette Purple Bikini Beauty in Miami."

Alexis Renn LOVE Advent 2016 (VIDEO)

I've been lagging on the LOVE blogging.

No matter. Enjoy Alexis Renn:

In Parting Shot at Obama, Putin Plays Nice Guy

Following-up, "Putin Won't Retaliate."

At LAT, "In a slap at Obama, Putin plays Mr. Nice Guy":

Vladimir Putin is betting that the smartest move is to do nothing.

The Russian president announced Friday that his government would not expel any U.S. diplomats in retaliation for U.S. punitive measures unveiled by the White House a day earlier in response to Russia’s alleged cyber-attacks.

Putin’s sidestep away from confrontation was widely read as a deliberate bow to President-elect Donald Trump -- and a final hard slap at President Obama in the waning weeks of the U.S. leader’s tenure.

“We will not create any problems for U.S. diplomats. We will not expel anyone,” Putin said in a statement posted on the Kremlin website that followed well-publicized calls from senior Russian officials for a sharp pushback against the U.S. administration over steps that included the expulsions of 35 Russian diplomats.

The Russian leader said the Kremlin would instead base future moves on “the policies of the Trump administration.” Trump quickly praised Putin for putting off any action, tweeting: “I always knew he was very smart!”

Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2016

Keep reading.

Amanda Nunes Knocks Out Ronda Rousey in 48 Seconds at #UFC207

No need to subscribe to the match when you can watch it in virtual real-time on Twitter.

Just 48 seconds and Rousey was toast.

ICYMI: After 13 months outside the octagon, Ronda Rousey lasted just 48 seconds against Amanda Nunes at #UFC207. https://t.co/h6tPObfqUw

— ESPN (@espn) December 31, 2016

#UFC207 reactions: https://t.co/BeT2slC6Cg

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 31, 2016

Coach may have doomed #RondaRousey's fight, career. https://t.co/wjgQpGqpJk

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 31, 2016

.@DLoesch #RondaRousey must retire after crushing loss to Amanda Nunes. https://t.co/FMTGNRkEZV v

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 31, 2016

Amanda Nunes did not hold back on Ronda Rousey's coach Edmond Tarverdyan after her dominant #UFC207 win. pic.twitter.com/m6FAPZBIOb

— ESPN (@espn) December 31, 2016

Ronda Rousey loses again; what now? https://t.co/rhzJzibKoj #ufc207

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 31, 2016

TPM's Josh Marshall Tweets Lesbian Porn in Failed Attack on Donald Trump

Unreal.

Just wow.

At Heat Street and the Ralph Retort:

Tweet of the year? https://t.co/mpy0LmetXM

— Heat Street (@heatstreet) December 31, 2016

SOCIAL JUSTICE! "Josh Marshall ... tweeted out a lesbian porn list to the entire world." https://t.co/ef7yYcuXlA @TheRalphRetort #tcot

— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) December 31, 2016

no way no way no fuckin way. 2016 just delivers right down to the wire https://t.co/se1hgiVJtP

— Virgil Texas (@virgiltexas) December 31, 2016

Ben Garrison

Cartoons:

#HappyNewYearsEveEve #happy2017 to all! #MAGA #trump #FlashbackFriday #BenGarrison #cartoon at https://t.co/Oj98iIxEAZ pic.twitter.com/OdCod9PMhz

— BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) December 31, 2016

#ItsTheEndOfTheWorldAnd I laughed! #LameDuckBarack #Obama #Putin #PresidentTrump https://t.co/Oj98iIxEAZ pic.twitter.com/K6vobwlQ2S

— BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) December 31, 2016

New #BenGarrison #Cartoon #LameDuckPresident #ObamasLegacy #LameDuck #Russia #TRUMP #putin More at https://t.co/Oj98iIxEAZ #happynewyear pic.twitter.com/rGygoq2LRA

— BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) December 30, 2016

Deadly Fentanyl

This is gnarly, at NYT:

Fentanyl Outpaces Heroin as the Deadliest Drug on Long Island. #Opioids https://t.co/SZ7ArqAvPA

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 31, 2016

Donald Trump Tweets Happy New Year to 'My Enemies' Who 'Lost So Badly...'

Heh.

He's the best.

Donald Trump hits back at Democrats in triumphant tweet mocking Barack Obama's sanctions on Russia https://t.co/cJkTWxAj4k pic.twitter.com/bLeVXamZIg

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) December 31, 2016

Trump tweets: Happy new year to my enemies who "lost so badly" https://t.co/taDkSWHLDD pic.twitter.com/NkT1ABWpfG

— The Hill (@thehill) December 31, 2016

The 'Arc of History' Won't Help Obama's Sorry Legacy

At Foreign Policy, "Obama never understood how history works."

The arc of history is long, but it won't ever judge Obama's Syria policy kindly. https://t.co/XKgUCrXAyY pic.twitter.com/tFN8uV1I03

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) December 30, 2016

United Nations Bias Against Israel (VIDEO)

Following-up from yesterday, "Jew Hatred at the United Nations."

This is an old but outstanding video:

Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom

*Bumped.*

At Amazon, Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis.

Germany Reckons With Its Genocide of the Herero People in Namibia

At NYT, "Germany Grapples With Its African Genocide":

Long before the Holocaust, Germany killed tens of thousands in Namibia. It will soon recognize this as genocide. https://t.co/C0QN5ShDJx pic.twitter.com/gkf9cuKKN5

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 29, 2016

WATERBERG, Namibia — In this faraway corner of southern Africa, scores of German soldiers lie in a military cemetery, their names, dates and details engraved on separate polished tombstones.

Easily missed is a single small plaque on the cemetery wall that gives a nod in German to the African “warriors” who died in the fighting as well. Nameless, they are among the tens of thousands of Africans killed in what historians have long considered — and what the German government is now close to recognizing — as the 20th century’s first genocide.

A century after losing its colonial possessions in Africa, Germany and its former colony, Namibia, are now engaged in intense negotiations to put an end to one of the ugliest chapters of Europe’s past in Africa.

During German rule in Namibia, called South-West Africa back then, colonial officers studying eugenics developed ideas on racial purity, and their forces tried to exterminate two rebellious ethnic groups, the Herero and Nama, some of them in concentration camps.

“It will be described as genocide,” Ruprecht Polenz, Germany’s special envoy to the talks, said of a joint statement that the two governments are preparing. Negotiations, which began this year, are now also focusing on how Germany will compensate and apologize to Namibia.

The events in Namibia between 1904 and 1908 foreshadowed Nazi ideology and the Holocaust. Yet the genocide in this former colony remains little known in Germany, the rest of Africa and, to some extent, even in Namibia itself.

Throughout Namibia, monuments and cemeteries commemorating the German occupiers still outnumber those honoring the victims of genocide, a concrete reminder of the lasting imbalance of power.

“Some of us want to remove that cemetery so that we can put our own people there,” said Magic Urika, 26, who lives about an hour away from the cemetery here in Waterberg. “What they did was a terrible thing, killing our people, saying all the Herero should be eliminated.”

While Germany’s efforts to atone for crimes during World War II are well known, it took a century before the nation began taking steps to acknowledge that genocide happened in Namibia decades before the Holocaust...

More.

Putin Won't Retaliate

Putin is pretty canny, actually.

He knows Obama's blowing steam. He knows he's spewing his bile not so much against Moscow, but against Donald Trump's victory itself. Putin's shrewd that way. He's waiting until O's out of office, expecting Trump to rescind the order and allow Russian diplomats back in.

That's what's going to happen. I mean, who doesn't think so?

At NYT, "Vladimir Putin Won't Expel U.S. Diplomats as Russian Foreign Minister Urged":

Putin won't expel U.S. diplomats as his foreign minister urged. He is apparently betting on better ties under Trump. https://t.co/deFtUkJJFh

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 31, 2016

MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia announced Friday that he would not retaliate against President Obama’s decision to expel Russian diplomats and impose new sanctions — only hours after his foreign minister recommended doing just that.

Mr. Putin, betting on improved relations with the next American president, said he would not eject 35 diplomats or close any diplomatic facilities, rejecting a tit-for-tat response to the actions taken on Thursday by the Obama administration.

The switch was remarkable, given that Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, had just recommended the retaliation in remarks broadcast live on national television. He called for punitive measures mirroring the ones imposed by the Obama administration, which accuses Russia of intimidating American diplomats and hacking institutions like the Democratic National Committee to influence the 2016 election.

The two countries have a long history of reciprocal expulsions, and Russian officials had been threatening to retaliate for days. Then Mr. Putin abruptly changed course.

“While we reserve the right to take reciprocal measures, we’re not going to downgrade ourselves to the level of irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy,” Mr. Putin said, using a common Russian idiom for quarrelsome and unseemly acts. “In our future steps on the way toward the restoration of Russia-United States relations, we will proceed from the policy pursued by the administration” of Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Putin has a flair for smart, unexpected tactics, and his announcement on Friday appeared to be in keeping with that. To some observers, the sudden shift seemed carefully stage-managed, a way of building up suspense before Mr. Putin’s surprise announcement, helping portray him as a wise leader above the fray.

Mr. Putin even said he did not want to close a wooded picnic area on a Moscow River island used by diplomats because he did not want to deprive their children. Then he went one step further, inviting all children of American diplomats accredited in Russia to celebrate the New Year and the Russian Orthodox Christmas with him at the Kremlin.

“Putin showed that he is above his own officials, that he doesn’t want to take the retaliatory action suggested by his foreign minister,” said Vladimir Frolov, an international relations analyst and columnist. “This is an attempt to show that he is a figure not just of worldly scale, but of planetary.”

Should Mr. Putin have chosen to retaliate harshly against the United States, he would most likely have deepened the rift between the two countries and left President-elect Trump with a nettlesome diplomatic standoff from the moment he arrived in the Oval Office.

But by choosing essentially to disregard Mr. Obama’s punitive measures, Mr. Putin can try to disarm his American critics, including members of Congress who consider him an aggressive foe of the United States. That could give Mr. Trump more room to pursue the closer cooperation with Russia that he has advocated.

Despite all of the statements from senior officials about the need to respect “reciprocity,” Mr. Putin essentially warned Washington that he was waiting for the Trump administration...

Shrewd, like I said. He's making Obama look like a petulant child.

Still more.

Kate Bosworth Bikini Photos

At Drunken Stepfather, "KATE BOSWORTH IS EVERYTHING IN A BIKINI OF THE DAY."

BONUS: "JESSICA LEE BUCHANAN SOUTH AFRICAN FOR FASHION OF THE DAY," and "MORNING HANGOVER DUMP OF THE DAY."

Finished Exodus

I finished Leon Uris's, Exodus.

As noted, I read it about 30 years ago and when I was visiting the Cactus Wren Bookstore in Yucca Valley, in September, I picked up a used copy.

What struck me so powerfully this time around is how unabashedly pro-Israel is Uris in the book. And I was also struck by so many of the historical and political themes that are essentially timeless, including the existential nature of Arab and Islamic hatred of the Jews, as well as the key political issues arising out of Israel's establishment as a nation-state, the wars of Israel's independence, especially the refugee crisis (and Uris's discussion of it as a completely manufactured crisis by corrupt Arab dictatorships to generate international condemnation of the Jewish state).

It is, in other words, a book to make leftist heads explode.

In any case, I thought I'd google around for some of the contemporary debate. It's interesting.

Start with Martin Kramer, "Exodus, myth and malpractice":

Exodus by Leon Uris must rank high on any list of the most influential books about the Middle East. The novel, published in 1958, popularized the story of Israel’s birth among millions of American readers. The 1960 film, based on the book and starring Paul Newman as Ari Ben Canaan, reached many more millions. Exodus is still of interest, not for what it says about the creation of Israel (the commander of the ship Exodus said Uris “wrote a very good novel, but it had nothing to do with reality. Exodus, shmexodus”), but for what it reveals about mid-twentieth-century America. So more inquiry into the American context of Exodus is welcome—provided you get the facts right.

Last fall, Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, offered his audiences an account of how Leon Uris came to write the book. In a speech at Brooklyn Law School, Khalidi made this claim:

This carefully crafted propaganda was the work of seasoned professionals. People like someone you probably never heard of, a man named Edward Gottlieb, for example. He’s one of the founders of the modern public relations industry. There are books about him as a great advertiser.

In order to sell the great Israeli state to the American public many, many decades ago, Gottlieb commissioned a successful, young novelist. A man who was a committed Zionist, a fellow with the name of Leon Uris. He funded him and sent him off to Israel to write a book. This book was "Exodus: A Novel of Israel." Gottlieb’s gambit succeeded brilliantly. Exodus sold as many copies as Gone With the Wind, which up to that point was the greatest best-seller in U.S. history. Exodus was as good a melodrama and sold just as many copies.

Khalidi made a similar assertion in another speech a few weeks later, this time at the Palestine Center in Washington...

Keep reading.

Kramer really tracked down the origins of this claim of a "modern public relations" "melodrama."

He goes on:

The purpose of myth

In sum, the Gottlieb “commission” never happened. Uris’s biographers dismiss it, Gottlieb’s most knowledgeable associate denies it, and no documents in Uris’s papers or Israeli archives testify to it. It originated as a boast by Gottlieb to another PR man, made almost thirty years after the (non-)fact. And given its origin, it’s precisely the sort of story a serious professional historian would never repeat as fact without first vetting it (as I did).

Yet it persists in the echo chamber of anti-Israel literature, where it has been copied over and over. In Kathleen Christison’s book, it finally appeared under the imprimatur of a university press (California). In Khalidi’s lectures last fall, it acquired a baroque elaboration, in which Edward Gottlieb emerges as “the father of the American iteration of Zionism” and architect of “one of the greatest advertising triumphs of the twentieth century.” What is the myth’s appeal? Why is the truth about the genesis of Exodus so difficult to grasp? Why should Khalidi think the Gottlieb story is, in his coy phrase, “worth noting”?

Because if you believe in Zionist mind-control, you must always assume the existence of a secret mover who (as Khalidi said) “you probably never heard of” and who must be a professional expert in deception. This “seasoned” salesman conceives of Exodus as a “gambit” (Khalidi) or a “scheme” (Christison). There is no studio or publisher’s advance, only a “commission,” which qualifies the book as “propaganda”—an “advertising triumph.” In Khalidi’s Brooklyn Law School talk, he added that “the process of selling Israel didn’t stop with Gottlieb…. It has continued unabated since then.” It is Khalidi’s purpose to cast Exodus, like the case for Israel itself, as a “carefully crafted” sales job by Madison Avenue mad men. Through their mediation, Israel has hoodwinked America...

Now, also check Haaretz, "The 'Exodus' Effect: The Monumentally Fictional Israel That Remade American Jewry":

The pantheon of Jewish-American novelists is as populous as it is distinguished. Among its titans are two Nobel laureates, Canadian-born Chicagoan Saul Bellow and Polish-born Isaac Bashevis Singer; a justly celebrated string of Pulitzer winners from Edna Ferber through Philip Roth to Michael Chabon; and the creators of such works as "The Catcher in the Rye" and "Catch 22."

Yet, a half-century ago, when a single book transformed American Jews as no other work has done, before or since, its author was none of these.

The book was "Exodus" - and like its creator, Leon Uris, it was savaged by critics and academics, and resoundingly ignored by literary prize committees. When the book appeared in 1958, however, it sold in the millions. It was said that it was nearly as common to find a copy of "Exodus" in American-Jewish households as to find the Bible - and, of the two, not a few Jewish households apparently had only "Exodus."

Tailoring, altering and radically sanitizing the history of the founding of the State of Israel to flatter the fantasies and prejudices of American Jews, Uris succeeded well beyond his own wildest dreams, essentially remaking his eager readers and himself as well. That is, he helped foment a significant change in his fellow Jews' perceptions of Israel and, indeed, of themselves.

"As a literary work it isn't much," sniffed David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding prime minister, still in power at the time "Exodus" was published. "But as a piece of propaganda, it's the best thing ever written about Israel."

Some 40 years after the novel's publication, the prominent Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said would ruefully remark of its demonized treatment of Arabs that "the main narrative model that dominates American thinking still seems to be Leon Uris' 1958 novel 'Exodus.'"

More.

Then see the very critical Alan Elsner, at the Jewish Journal, "Rereading Leon Uris’ ‘Exodus’: a disquieting experience."

I'm sure there's lots more commentary, but you get the idea. For good measure, here's one more, from Adam Kirsch, at the Tablet, "MACHO MAN: Exodus recast Israel’s founders as swaggering heroes and secured Leon Uris a place on the Jewish bookshelf even though, as a new biography shows, he was a mediocre writer and a troubled person."

As you can tell, leftists love to unload on Uris. But the book is awesome, and your view of it will shape your view of the man.

Jew Hatred at the United Nations

From Lorrie Goldstein, at the Toronto Sun, "Jew hatred at the U.N. no surprise" (via Blazing Cat Fur):

To put it simply, the United Nations contains a nest of Jew-hating vipers.

Jew hatred at the UN flies under the false flag of condemning Israel for human rights violations, while all but ignoring them everywhere else.

This effort is spearheaded by Mideast dictatorships, whose goal has always been to delegitimize the Jewish state, the same goal as the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign and Israeli Apartheid Weeks.

In the latest instalment, a now-passed UN Security Council resolution slammed Israel unfairly and selectively on the settlement issue in the Occupied Territories last week.

President Barack Obama has been criticized by Israel’s supporters over the US abstaining from voting on the resolution (rather than vetoing it), which allowed it to pass.

But this Security Council resolution is just the latest example of the UN’s war against the Jews masquerading as legitimate criticism of Israel...

More.

Will X. Walters, Plaintiff in San Diego Gay Pride Nudity Case, Dead of an Apparent Suicide (VIDEO)

What a waste.

At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "Man who lost gay pride nudity case against SDPD dies of apparent suicide":

A man who unsuccessfully sued San Diego police over his public nudity arrest at a gay pride festival was found dead Wednesday night at his Hillcrest apartment in an apparent suicide, authorities said.

The death of Will X. Walters comes about two weeks after a federal jury delivered the verdict in favor of police.

Walters’ attorney, Chris Morris, said Walters was shocked by the Dec. 13 verdict and immediately left the downtown San Diego federal courthouse after it was announced.

Morris said he hadn’t heard from Walters since and had tried to reach him in the days that followed. Friends also tried checking on him, the lawyer said.

San Diego police were called to the apartment by a neighbor late Wednesday.

His time of death was not known. The county Medical Examiner’s Office said the death remained under investigation.

“Will Walters was a valiant warrior for his cause, and he will be missed by those who knew him and the community he fought for,” Morris said Thursday...

Maybe he should have just paid the fines, or whatever, and let it go.

This case isn't worth taking your life. But apparently, his identity as a homosexual man was everything and he wanted that fully validated, or else. I'll bet the guy was a pushy in-your-face advocate for same-sex marriage and all that. Homosexual activists are like that.

More (via Memeorandum).

'The first time I ever smoked pot I also had sex...'

Well, I'm sure that was nice. Especially the sex, heh.

At Nerve, "Love in a Time of Cannabis" (via Instapundit):

I was in high school, she was older and asked if I was cool. I nodded. She showed me how to hit the bong then laid me down on the bed and showed me how to please her. Forever after, I’ve associated sex and weed. They go together like music and dancing. It’s the perfect substance for romance. Your body becomes hypersensitive and alert. Everything’s light, funny, wonderful and weird...

More.

Obama Administration Sanctions Russia on Election Hacking

O doesn't look too pleased at that photo. If looks could be translated into policy, the U.S. would've been a lot tougher on Moscow these last few years. Alas, Obama's like a paper tiger. He looks tough while being a pushover in practice. Frankly, Russia's been eating our lunch, from Ukraine to Syria.

These sanctions are completely political, designed more to delegitimize the incoming Trump administration than to penalize Russia.

God, how much longer until this scum of an administration is shown the door?

At WSJ, "U.S. Punishes Russia Over Election Cyberattacks; Moscow Vows Retaliation":

U.S. punishes Russia over election hacking with sanctions, expulsion of 35 diplomats https://t.co/5AduSeZ9rI pic.twitter.com/tEWhJKRYur

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 29, 2016

President Barack Obama sanctioned Russian government intelligence agencies and expelled 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives from the U.S. in what he called a partial response to Russia’s alleged use of cyberattacks to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.

Russia threatened to retaliate, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying “the principle of reciprocity applies here.” He said Russian President Vladimir Putin would formulate a response that would create “considerable discomfort in the same areas” for the U.S., according to the Interfax news agency.

The sanctions designate Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the Main Intelligence Directorate, or the GRU, for “tampering, altering or causing the misappropriation of information” with the purpose or effect of interfering with the election. The measures also designate Russia’s main security agency, the Federal Security Service, for assisting the GRU in those activities.

The administration also sanctioned three Russian companies it accused of providing material support for the GRU’s cyber operations and four top Russian officials who run the military intelligence agency.

At the same time, the State Department expelled 35 Russian intelligence operatives allegedly serving under diplomatic cover from the Russian embassy in Washington and the Russian consulate in San Francisco. The officials and their families were given 72 hours to leave the U.S. after the State Department said they “were acting in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status.” The deadline is noon on Sunday.

The State Department also notified Russia that as of Friday Moscow would be denied access to two Russian government-owned compounds in the U.S. One is a dacha, or summer retreat, for Russian embassy officials on the eastern shore of Maryland, and the other is a dacha compound for New York-based Russian diplomats on Long Island, a U.S. official said. The White House accused Russia of using the recreational compounds for “intelligence-related purposes.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation also released a joint analysis report, titled “Grizzly Steppe,” giving additional technical details about the election hacking.

Mr. Obama said the steps were “in response to the Russian government’s aggressive harassment of U.S. officials and cyber operations aimed at the U.S. election” and followed repeated warnings to Moscow.

“These data theft and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government,” Mr. Obama said in a statement.

Russia has denied involvement in the election hacks.

Mr. Peskov said Thursday the new U.S. measures were a display of the Obama administration’s unpredictability and aggressive foreign policy. He said the White House wanted “to ruin once and for all Russian-American relations, which were already at rock-bottom, and apparently, strike a blow against the foreign-policy plans of the future administration,” according to Interfax.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Facebook page that the Russian Foreign Ministry would make an official announcement regarding countermeasures against the U.S. on Friday. She said “the American people have been humiliated by their own president.”

The administration’s announcement could reignite the debate between the White House and President-elect Donald Trump, who has challenged the accuracy of the U.S. intelligence assessment attributing the hacks to Russia and called it “ridiculous.” Mr. Obama called Mr. Trump on Wednesday ahead of the announcement...

More.

Bears Ears National Monument and Gold Butte National Monument

The Obama regime is really going on an end-of-year administrative blitz, especially on the environment.

So craven and dishonest. Why not push these initiatives during the first administration, or before the 2014 midterms? Of course O's regime knew they'd be unpopular and the Democrats would face massive backlash.

Anyway, at Memeorandum, "Statement by the President on the Designation of Bears Ears National Monument and Gold Butte National Monument."

And at LAT:

President Obama designates two new national monuments in the West https://t.co/SYKbJj8aXF pic.twitter.com/2vslGHuwdJ

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) December 28, 2016

More, at Western Journalism, "Utah Lawmakers Vow to Fight Obama’s Creation of National Monuments."

Bitches and Hoes and Feminism

At the Other McCain, linking to the Patriarch Tree, at Medium:

Don't preach ME any sermons! https://t.co/00077MJbeS @AmPowerBlog pic.twitter.com/AsH0cyMtqZ

— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) December 29, 2016

Izabel Goulart at St. Barts

At London's Daily Mail:

Victoria's Secret model Izabel Goulart shows off her super toned in St. Barts https://t.co/c90yeG8jw9 pic.twitter.com/e7FuIdQ5Ac

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) December 29, 2016

Also, at WWTDD, "Izabel Goulart in a Bikini."

Plus, at Egoastic!, "Izabel Goulart Red Hot Bikini Paddle Ball and Other Fine Things to Ogle."

At the Crossroads Café

I'm visiting with my sister in Yucca Valley, and my cousin (Hillary) and her family are in town, so we mosied over to the Crossroads Café in Joshua Tree.

It's apparently very progressive around these parts, as can be seen from the signage on the windows. (Joshua Tree National Park is right there, which attracts all kinds of hippies and leftists.)

I doubt they're not going to serve Trump supporters, though. You've got the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center just up the road a bit. Lots of folks are going to be anti-Obama, if not downright #MAGA enthusiasts.

At the Safe Spaces cafe, in 29 Palms. pic.twitter.com/1NFggqJUqt

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 28, 2016

RELATED: At RWN, "Outrage After Hawaii Cafe BANS Trump Voters." (Via Memeorandum.)

'Watership Down' Author Richard Adams Dead at 96

Well, that's a long and lustrous life.

I wish we all could live that long.

Still though, we're losing so many in 2016. It's a great year, actually, but the obits are mounting.

I read "Watership Down" for a book club at my college, and it was great. Adams declaims any larger moral to the story, but the moral is clearly to stand and fight for what you believe, and that good will prevail over evil.

At NYT:

Richard Adams has died at 96. He became one of the world’s best-selling authors with his debut, “Watership Down." https://t.co/7fgkGyzsq0

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 27, 2016

Charlotte McKinney Dream Hotel Photo Shoot

I hope to be seeing more of Ms. Charlotte in 2017.

At Egotastic!, "Charlotte McKinney Dream Hotel Wicked Hot Lingerie Shoot."

Obama's Parting Betrayal of Israel

From Ambassador John Bolton, at WSJ:

"Obama's Parting Betrayal of #Israel" - read my latest op-ed in the @WSJ: https://t.co/y9yV45JFxK

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) December 27, 2016

The Midnight Push to Empty Out Guantanamo

From Congressman Ed Royce, at WSJ:

.@RepEdRoyce: The midnight push to empty out Guantanamo https://t.co/0piYOdDtPj via .@WSJ

— Montgomery Granger (@mjgranger1) December 27, 2016

Carrie Fisher Dead at 60

I'm not that big a "Star Wars" fan. I remember, back in 1977 when the original "Star Wars" came out, my Uncle Doug had rounded up a bunch of us kids in my family and took us to see the movie.

It was of course fabulous, and we all had a great time; and then I saw "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Return of the Jedi" when they came out, as these were basically obligatory.

But that's about it. I don't have all the movies on CD, and haven't even seen all the more recent updates in the franchise.

It just seems like Carrie Fisher's death has some kind of social significance. It's weird, I guess.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Carrie Fisher, child of Hollywood who blazed a path as 'Star Wars' heroine, screenwriter and author, dies at 60."

And at the Other McCain, "CARRIE FISHER DIES AT AGE 60":

"Good-bye, Princess Leia — and may the Force be with you!" https://t.co/HhDIgt9wBF

— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) December 27, 2016

Her death came while the latest film in the Star Wars saga, Rogue One, was No. 1 at the box office. She won critical praise for her performance in the original Star Wars film (“Episode IV: A New Hope”), which I first saw in 1977 at Atlanta’s Phipps Plaza theater immediately after its original release. Many of her best scenes were Princess Leia’s exchanges of sarcastic lines with the outlaw pilot Han Solo, memorably played by Harrison Ford, which recalled the classic romantic pairings of Hollywood’s Golden Age — Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, etc.

Baked Alaska

Well, apparently there's an "Alt-Right Civil War," which involves some apparently controversial headlining changes to the so-called "DeploraBall," which is some gala for the Internet cult of rightists supporting Donald Trump.

It's weird, whatever it is.

Here's the headline at Mediaite, via Memeorandum, "Alt-Right in Civil War After Prominent Leader Disinvited From Pro-Trump ‘DeploraBall’."

And see the Ralph Retort, "DEPLORABALL DUSTUP: Baked Alaska Out, MILO In, Accusations Flying From All Parties."

You know, once the Daily Stormer gets involved, I'm outta here.

These aren't my kind of folks, actually.

ICYMI: Epic tweets from @bakedalaska (before the fake/co-opted MAGA3X crew deleted them) https://t.co/wuBy4zdw5P pic.twitter.com/oZf78tCCCx

— ᴰᴶ TB • #AnimeRight (@TRIGGERBAITmk2) December 27, 2016

Israel Prepares to Build More Settlements

Heh.

I can dig it.

At the New York Times, "Defying U.N., Israel Prepares to Build More Settlements":

JERUSALEM — Undeterred by a resounding defeat at the United Nations, Israel’s government said Monday that it would move ahead with thousands of new homes in East Jerusalem and warned nations against further action, declaring that Israel does not “turn the other cheek.”

Just a few days after the United Nations Security Council voted to condemn Israeli settlements, Jerusalem’s municipal government signaled that it would not back down: The city intends to approve 600 housing units in the predominantly Palestinian eastern section of town on Wednesday in what a top official called a first installment on 5,600 new homes.

The defiant posture reflected a bristling anger among Israel’s pro-settlement political leaders, who not only blamed the United States for failing to block the Council resolution, but also claimed to have secret intelligence showing that President Obama’s team had orchestrated it. American officials strongly denied the claim, but the sides seem poised for more weeks of conflict until Mr. Obama hands over the presidency to Donald J. Trump.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lashed out at Security Council countries by curbing diplomatic contacts, recalling envoys, cutting off aid and summoning the American ambassador for a scolding. He canceled a planned visit this week by Ukraine’s prime minister even as he expressed concern on Monday that Mr. Obama was planning more action at the United Nations before his term ends next month...

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