Richard Florida, The New Urban Crisis

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Richard Florida, The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class—and What We Can Do About It.

Phoenix Expected to See High of 110 Degrees Today (VIDEO)

Watch, at ABC News 10 Phoenix, "DANGEROUSLY hot this weekend!":

It will be dangerously hot Saturday as we're expected to see a high of 110.

Actually, according to the report, it could 120 on Tuesday. But more at USA Today:

It could hit 120 degrees in #Arizona, Southwest this weekend https://t.co/fNSStuJWrG via @USATODAY

— Beth Duckett (@Beth_Duckett) June 17, 2017

Added:

The NWS has already issued excessive #heat watches for Friday into early next week across the Southwest: https://t.co/sXoaAXBD3C pic.twitter.com/9Im1iOM0IT

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) June 14, 2017

A heat wave will arrive late this week in California and across the southwest US - here's how you stay safe https://t.co/asAP108BNk 🌡️☀️😓 pic.twitter.com/WdUfr2aETC

— NWS (@NWS) June 14, 2017

Reader Poll: Should Conservatives Disrupt Leftists?

The poll's at Legal Insurrection, "To disrupt like the Left, or not to disrupt: that is the question (Reader Poll)."

I've already weighed in, here, "Let's Not Parrot the Left, Laura Loomer and Jack Posobiec."

I've added this comment at Legal Insurrection, in reply to Ms. EBL (who links this Instapundit post, which links AoSHQ):

Actually, Ace isn’t arguing we should use violence. He’s talking about boycotts and blacklisting. Yeah, let’s do that. He doesn’t say to violently shut down left-wing public performances like a bunch of special snowflakes. So-called conservatives have lost their minds. The vote here is running almost 75 percent in favor of shutting down speech — SPEECH — you don’t like. You want to parrot the left, conservatives? Are you going to start hitting antifa leftists over the head with bike-locks, like anarchist Eric Clanton up in Berkeley? No. Are you going to start throwing bricks through the windows of businesses, like the riots on Telegraph Avenue, simply because people like Milo are scheduled to speak? No. Or at least, I’m not. That way lies much more polarization and violence, which purportedly conservatives don’t want. So what’s it going to be?

We won't have debates in this country if conservatives want to fight violent leftists with more violence. That's not what Ace was arguing.

Here's Jennifer Delacruz from the 11:00pm Weather Report Last Night

Following-up from last night, at 10:19pm, "Amber Lee's Hot Weather Forecast."

Ms. Jennifer wasn't up yet, but here she is now:

Tuong Vu, Vietnam's Communist Revolution

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Tuong Vu, Vietnam's Communist Revolution: The Power and Limits of Ideology.

Scott Pelley Signs Off at 'CBS Evening News' (VIDEO)

I like Pelley.

I quit watching ABC News years ago, when Democrat George Stephanopoulos became one of the most important personalities at the network. And same thing for NBC, after the Brian Williams fiasco. Yeah, I know, Pelley's a leftist as well. But I've been watching CBS Evening News exclusively for this last few years, and it's fairly balanced --- or, as balanced as you're likely to get from the elite networks in any case.

Here's the lowdown, at the New York Post. It's cutthroat in that business, "Scott Pelley out of ‘CBS Evening News’":

Scott Pelley is out at “CBS Evening News,” Page Six has exclusively learned.

Sources tell us that “Poison Pelley’s” office was being cleared out Tuesday while the anchor was away on an assignment for the network’s news magazine “60 Minutes.”

We’re told he’s being shifted permanently to “60 Minutes.”

Insiders tell us that CBS News president David Rhodes “is making [Pelley] move to ‘60 Minutes,’ ” and that the pair “don’t get on.”

Another TV insider said that while Pelley’s ratings have been down, “There’s also been friction between him and [Rhodes].”

Added a source, “[Pelley] was pushed out of the ‘Evening News.’ It’s been coming for a long time. This could have been handled better — [Pelley] is away on a story, and they’re cleaning out his office. It’s not the correct way to treat the face of CBS News.”

And by the way, I stopped watching any television news for about six weeks this semester, especially as the Russia conspiracy became too much to handle.

I expect that's going to be more of the norm going forward. I prefer to filter what news I get through blogs and Twitter. It's that, or frankly no news at all, and that's hard for me, as a political science professor.

Amazon Buys Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion (VIDEO)

At Bloomberg, "Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion."

There's talk now of breaking up Amazon under federal antitrust legislation.

I just want to keep blogging my Amazon Associates book business, lol.

At CBS Evening News, from last night:

New Erin Andrews Bikini Pics

At Bro Bible, "Erin Andrews in a Bikini is Something We Haven’t Seen, Well, Pretty Much Ever, Until Today."

And at RealClearHealth, "Erin Andrews Does Rare Bikini Photoshoot for Health Magazine: Fox NFL sideline reporter has battled health scares and sexism, but hasn't broken stride."

Erin Andrews – Health Magazine USA July/August 2017 Issue https://t.co/ku9sWQyKJy pic.twitter.com/o8HrrGSjKD

— juststarz (@juststarz) June 15, 2017

Minnesota Officer Acquitted in Killing of Philando Castile

Man, did Valerie Castile let loose about the verdict. Righteous indignation!

Breaking News: The Minnesota officer who fatally shot Philando Castile was acquitted of all charges https://t.co/JmTnv4v7B4

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 16, 2017

'Mad as hell,' #PhilandoCastile's mother reacts to not guilty verdict: https://t.co/JFCN7XJDaA

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 17, 2017

"My son loved this state. He had one tattoo on his body, and it was of the Twin Cities," Valerie Castile said. "My son loved this city, and this city killed my son."

Valerie Castile also addressed the crowd directly after leaving the courthouse, expressing her disappointment.

"The system continues to fail black people, and it will continue to fail you all. Like I said, because this happened with Philando, when they get done with us, they coming for you, for you, for you and all your interracial children," Valerie Castile said. "Y'all are next, and you will be standing up here fighting for justice just as well as I am."

Let's Not Parrot the Left, Laura Loomer and Jack Posobiec

Look, all these so-called conservative Trump supporters are applauding Laura Loomer and Jack Posobiec, after the two tried to shut down the Caesar production of Shakespeare in the Park last night.

While I definitely think the right should practice more of the left's Alinsky politics, I don't agree in this case. It's about speech. You can't complain about leftists shutting down conservatives speakers if your response is just to ape them with the exact same bullying and violence. I'm not tweeting a whole lot about this, since I'd prefer not to lose a bunch of followers. But frankly, folks on the right are being stupid and über-tribal. I rarely agree with Ben Shapiro, but I agree with him here:

Stupid snowflake garbage. Pathetic. https://t.co/bBVb99D0mt

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 17, 2017

Police Say 58 People Are Missing, Presumed Dead in #GrenfellTower Fire (VIDEO)

At the Guardian U.K, "Grenfell Tower fire: 58 'missing, presumed dead' says Met amid protests at May's leadership - latest."

And at Sky News.

Met Police says first #GrenfellTower victim has been identified; 58 people are missing and are assumed to be dead - the number may increase pic.twitter.com/gjyi28sJHM

— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 17, 2017

Nice Tattoo

Seen on Twitter:

pic.twitter.com/FSKbZHDGgH

— SEXYBOOTY 👉ILI 😜 (@VENTULINAF430) June 16, 2017

Morning Coffee

I'm having my coffee right now, although not with this woman, lol.

pic.twitter.com/0imUseYx3M

— Jessica Miller (@camstarwar) June 17, 2017

Alonzo Hamby, For the Survival of Democracy

At Amazon, Alonzo Hamby, For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin Roosevelt and th Crisis of the 1930s.

Doctors Give Update on Steve Scalise's Condition (VIDEO)

Rep. Scalise was very close to death.

The doctors are now much more confident of his recovery than they were on Wednesday, but he's not out of the woods yet, by no means.

Amber Lee's Hot Weather Forecast

I don't see video of Jennifer Delacruz posted tonight, which is strange, since she tweeted she'd be doing the weather through the rest of the week.

No matter, here's the lovely Ms. Amber for CBS News 2 Los Angeles. It's heating up, people. Wasn't too bad today. I hung around the apartment most of the day, but Father's Day's going to be scorching. Keep your daddy cool and hydrated.

Eitan D. Hersh, Hacking the Electorate

At Amazon, Eitan D. Hersh, Hacking the Electorate: How Campaigns Perceive Voters.

'Megan Leavey' Review (VIDEO)

I liked it.

It's not the biggest blockbuster you'll ever see, but I really like Kate Mara, so I made it a point to see this one. Plus, I rarely miss a war movie. I went to the early-bird budget matinee, so the theater was almost empty. I don't see the opening weekend numbers online, although at least the movie's not straight to DVD. It's heavy on the personal relationships, especially Corporal Leavey's relationship to her dog, Rex. It's a tear-jerker as well, but a true story.

It's worth a look, either way. Most refreshingly, the director eschewed any inclinations towards leftist antiwar anti-Americanism. Indeed, the conclusion's hella patriotic, but I'll leave it at that not to spoil things.

See also the Los Angeles Times, "Review: 'Megan Leavey' tells a tale of two war heroes: a woman Marine and her bomb-sniffing K-9":

It’s also a movie that doesn’t wear its issues on its stripes. Without feeling the need to brand itself either a woman-in-the-military movie or animal-activism yarn, [director Gabriela] Cowperthwaite quietly goes about humanizing everything so that both of these elements, which might get treated as hot-button topics elsewhere, gain a kind of understated momentum all their own. Sure, that gives it the slight tinge of a chummy, politics-free, armed-services recruitment video — especially when Common’s around to play the supportive sergeant always this-close from breaking into a smile. But the battle scenes are direct and tense, if not exactly original, and even when the screenplay tosses in a burgeoning flirtation with a fellow K-9er (the charming Ramon Rodriguez), “Megan Leavey” makes it feel like an extra color in a soldier’s story, not a predictable story beat for a heroine...

RTWT.

J. Kael Weston, The Mirror Test

We're sending more troops to Afghanistan, and President Trump has given Defense Secretary James Mattis authority to set troop levels for that entire deployment.

So, I suppose this is a good time to re-up J. Kael Weston's recent book on the conflict, now out in paperback.

At Amazon, J. Kael Weston, The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rage is All the Rage

From Peggy Noonan, at the Wall Street Journal, "A generation of media figures are cratering under the historical pressure of Donald Trump":

NOONAN: Rage All the Rage -- and It's Dangerous... https://t.co/TeZApk0FMB

— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) June 16, 2017

What we are living through in America is not only a division but a great estrangement. It is between those who support Donald Trump and those who despise him, between left and right, between the two parties, and even to some degree between the bases of those parties and their leaders in Washington. It is between the religious and those who laugh at Your Make Believe Friend, between cultural progressives and those who wish not to have progressive ways imposed upon them. It is between the coasts and the center, between those in flyover country and those who decide what flyover will watch on television next season. It is between “I accept the court’s decision” and “Bake my cake.” We look down on each other, fear each other, increasingly hate each other.

Oh, to have a unifying figure, program or party.

But we don’t, nor is there any immediate prospect. So, as Ben Franklin said, we’ll have to hang together or we’ll surely hang separately. To hang together—to continue as a country—at the very least we have to lower the political temperature. It’s on all of us more than ever to assume good faith, put our views forward with respect, even charity, and refuse to incite.

We’ve been failing. Here is a reason the failure is so dangerous.

In the early 1990s Roger Ailes had a talk show on the America’s Talking network and invited me to talk about a concern I’d been writing about, which was old-fashioned even then: violence on TV and in the movies. Grim and graphic images, repeated depictions of murder and beatings, are bad for our kids and our culture, I argued. Depictions of violence unknowingly encourage it.

But look, Roger said, there’s comedy all over TV and I don’t see people running through the streets breaking into laughter. True, I said, but the problem is that, for a confluence of reasons, our country is increasingly populated by the not fully stable. They aren’t excited by wit, they’re excited by violence—especially unstable young men. They don’t have the built-in barriers and prohibitions that those more firmly planted in the world do. That’s what makes violent images dangerous and destructive. Art is art and censorship is an admission of defeat. Good judgment and a sense of responsibility are the answer.

That’s what we’re doing now, exciting the unstable—not only with images but with words, and on every platform. It’s all too hot and revved up. This week we had a tragedy. If we don’t cool things down, we’ll have more.

And was anyone surprised? Tuesday I talked with an old friend, a figure in journalism who’s a pretty cool character, about the political anger all around us. He spoke of “horrible polarization.” He said there’s “too much hate in D.C.” He mentioned “the beheading, the play in the park” and described them as “dog whistles to any nut who wants to take action.”

“Someone is going to get killed,” he said.

That was 20 hours before the shootings in Alexandria, Va.

The gunman did the crime, he is responsible, it’s fatuous to put the blame on anyone or anything else.

But we all operate within a climate and a culture. The media climate now, in both news and entertainment, is too often of a goading, insinuating resentment, a grinding, agitating anipathy. You don’t need another recitation of the events of just the past month or so. A comic posed with a gruesome bloody facsimile of President Trump’s head. New York’s rightly revered Shakespeare in the Park put on a “Julius Caesar” in which the assassinated leader is made to look like the president. A CNN host—amazingly, of a show on religion—sent out a tweet calling the president a “piece of s—” who is “a stain on the presidency.” An MSNBC anchor wondered, on the air, whether the president wishes to “provoke” a terrorist attack for political gain. Earlier Stephen Colbert, well known as a good man, a gentleman, said of the president, in a rant: “The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c— holster.” Those are but five dots in a larger, darker pointillist painting. You can think of more.


Too many in the mainstream media—not all, but too many—don’t even bother to fake fairness and lack of bias anymore, which is bad: Even faked balance is better than none.

Yes, they have reasons...