Emma Roberts Shape Magazine (VIDEO)

She's a hot chick.

Watch:

Sexy Santas

Via Theo Spark:

Sheer Jessica Shears

At Taxi Driver, "Jessica Shears Braless in See Through Top."

Alexis Ren 2017 (VIDEO)

Nice.

Shop Deals

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

And especially, Calvin Klein Men's Undershirts Cotton Classics Multipack Crew Neck T-Shirts, and Calvin Klein Men's Undershirts Cotton Classics 4 Pack V Neck T-Shirts.

Also, Men's Memory Foam House Slippers Winter Warm Soft Slip-on Shoes Indoor/Outdoor, and RockDove Two-Tone Memory Foam Warm House Slippers for Men w/Indoor Outdoor Sole.

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More, Sweet Dreams Luxury Satin Pillowcase with Zipper, Standard Size, White (Silky Satin Pillow Case for Hair) by Shop Bedding.

Still more, G.H. Bass & Co. Men's Larson Penny Loafer.

Plus, Samsung Electronics UN65MU7000 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2017 Model).

BONUS: Stewart Patrick, The Sovereignty Wars: Reconciling America with the World.

Trump's Tax-Cut Triumph

The House has to vote again on the bill, but it looks like just a formality. This is a huge victory for the White House.

At Axios, "Trump triumphant: a consequential, lasting end to 2017" (via Memeorandum):

Trump triumphant: a consequential, lasting end to 2017 https://t.co/EmNlLJRN2M pic.twitter.com/o5ZV3BSTt1

— Axios (@axios) December 20, 2017

President Trump takes a beating in the media, but he's ending 2017 on the high note of his presidency.

The big picture: You might not like his words or actions. But measured in terms of what Republican voters want and expected, he's winning on important fronts:

* The tax bill passed with almost unanimous Republican support, before the end of the year, and in keeping with mostly mainstream conservative orthodoxy. Trump won a bigger corporate tax break than either Bush ever got, and will sign the most consequential new tax law in 30 years. And he followed through on cutting taxes for most small businesses and most Americans. He did this without losing a single GOP senator — even his harshest critics.

* He failed to repeal all of Obama's health-care law. But Trump axed the individual mandate with the tax bill, and has chipped away at other parts of the law's foundation. Again, you might hate the outcome. But it's a significant step to blowing up a program most Republicans demanded be destroyed.

* Axios health-care editor Sam Baker emails: "The smaller administrative steps Trump has taken — an executive order, cuts to enrollment outreach, ending a critical stream of funding for insurers — [are cumulatively] weakening the ACA's insurance exchanges and prompting some insurers to question whether those markets are worth the trouble."

* Trump has tilted the court rightward in lasting ways. Justice Neil Gorsuch was a substantial, conservative addition to the Supreme Court. And it wasn't a one-off: The dozen new U.S. Circuit Court judges he has named is the most during a president's first year in office in more than a century.

* Trump has followed through on eviscerating regulations, many of them imposed by Obama. He has revoked 67, and delayed or derailed more than 1,500 others.

* No matter that much of it is not of his doing, the economy has grown consistently under his watch.

* ISIS is in retreat. The N.Y. Times' Ross Douthat calls it "A War Trump Won."

More.

'Nikki Haley is on track to be our Margaret Thatcher...' (VIDEO)

It's Ralph Peters, on Fox:

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (Ret.): "@nikkihaley is on track to be our Margaret Thatcher. She's really strong... She's sticking up for truth, justice, and the American way." pic.twitter.com/J2ADep1koT

— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 20, 2017

United Nations​ Ambassador @nikkihaley issued this warning to countries planning to vote against @POTUS's Jerusalem decision. https://t.co/XA7HenCPN5 pic.twitter.com/hNM9tcLLqW

— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 20, 2017

Melissa del Bosque, Bloodlines

This looks great!

At Amazon, Melissa del Bosque, Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty.

Erin Heatherton Wears Nothing (VIDEO)

She's so dreamy.

Kate Upton for LOVE Magazine (VIDEO)

Well, no doubt the moment we've all been waiting for.

And did you know, Kate Upton's now a married woman. Yep, that lucking dog Justin Verlander nailed her down after the World Series.

At LOVE:

Michaela Wain Swim w/ Belle Lucia and Steph Raynor (VIDEO)

At Editorials Fashions Trends, "VIDEO: MICHAELA WAIN, BELLE LUCIA AND STEPH RAYNER FOR MICHAELA WAIN SWIM."

Sofia Resing for Lui Magazine

At Taxi Driver, "Sofia Resing Topless for Lui Magazine."

More at Hot Celeb, "SOFIA RESING – LUI MAGAZINE NAKED PHOTOSHOOT (DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018) (NSFW)."

New Deals. Every Day

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

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Here, Brightech Litespan LED Reading and Craft Floor Lamp - Dimmable Full Spectrum Natural Daylight Sunlight LED Standing Light with Gooseneck for Living Room Sewing Bedroom Office Task – Havana Brown, and Natural Sunlight Desk Lamp, Great For Reading and Crafting, Adjustable Gooseneck, Home and Office Lamp by Lavish Home, White.

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BONUS: David Armitage, Civil Wars: A History in Ideas.

Lisa Bloom Sought Cash Payment for Trump Accusers (VIDEO)

She's such scum.

From Mark Tapscott, at Instapundit, "JOHN SOLOMON SLICED AND DICED LISA BLOOM MONDAY NIGHT: 'Facts Refute Lisa Bloom’s Denials on Paying Trump Accusers, Reporter Says'."

3 Killed as Amtrak Train Derails Over I-5 in Washington State (VIDEO)

At the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "NTSB: Train was traveling twice the speed limit before derailment: 3 confirmed dead after incident near DuPont; National Transportation Safety Board investigating":

DUPONT, Wash. -- An Amtrak passenger train that derailed with deadly results Monday morning was traveling at more than twice the speed limit of the track, the National Transportation Safety Board reported later that night.

Bella Dinh-Zarr, a National Transportation Safety Board member speaking to reporters before midnight Monday night upon her arrival at the Sea-Tac International Airport, reported that data from the train's rear engine marked the train's speed at 80 mph. Sound Transit confirmed to SeattlePI that the Interstate 5 overpass south of Tacoma where the crash occurred carries a 30 mph speed limit.

Amtrak president Richard Anderson told reporters that positive train control — the technology that can slow or stop a speeding train — wasn't in use on the stretch of track in Washington state where the deadly derailment occurred.

Anderson spoke on a conference call with reporters and said he was "deeply saddened by all that has happened today."

NTSB crew members arrived in Seattle shortly before midnight and said their first full day of investigation would begin Tuesday.

They had yet to interview any of the train's personnel. Investigators planned to collect on-scene information preserved by local authorities for the next seven to 10 days and issue a report with their findings, possibly up to a year or more from now...

Keep reading.

Alexis Ren by LOVE Magazine (VIDEO)

She's pretty amazing.

Feminism, 'Heterophobia', and #MeToo

This is really good, from Daphne Patai, at Minding the Campus, "'We Made This (Harassment) Law Up From the Beginning and Now We've Won."

RELATED: At the Other McCain, "The Sexual Harassment Apocalypse."

How 'White Nationalism' Picked Up Steam

Take this piece with a grain of salt. I mean, c'mon, they're relying on the Southern Poverty Law Center, for crissakes.

At USA Today, "How white nationalists tapped into decades of pent-up racism to spark a movement":

The "alt-right" movement didn't happen overnight https://t.co/0ZDeiwQWVU

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) December 17, 2017

This summer's seemingly overnight arrival of the self-described "alt-right" and white nationalist groups — marked most prominently by a deadly car attack at the August "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va. — drew worldwide headlines, but the movement simmered for decades before it burst into public view.

Underlying that shift from society's fringes to center stage is a new strategy that taps into the frustrations of white people angry at a society they say has marginalized them and a new political landscape that appears to give voice to their cause.

President Trump’s election last year became a major rallying point for white nationalists, who watched as the Republican repeatedly amplified some of their views in campaign rallies and tweets.

“It just absolutely electrified this community,” Keegan Hankes, an analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hates groups, including the KKK. “They really felt like they had someone to rally behind.”

The Charlottesville attack that heads to a grand jury Monday has done little to dim the movement. In recent months, white nationalists have orchestrated numerous controversial public appearances, fought and won high-profile legal battles with universities and dominated the airwaves.

Building on this newfound interest, white nationalists deployed tactics borrowed from the generations-old KKK and today’s far-left groups and adapted media techniques often used against them.

Kyle Bristow, a self-described "alt-right" activist and attorney for high-profile white nationalist Richard Spencer, said large corporations, the government and academia that “relentlessly” attack the nation's traditional values have only prompted the movement's growth.

“Middle America is rallying to the flag of the alt-right,” he said. “Older generations recognize that America is no longer the place that it once was or could be, and people of this generation tend to be more conservative in trying to reclaim the America that was lost."

'Proud to be white'

The movement's most prominent figure, Spencer, executive director of the white nationalist National Policy Institute, has helped the so-called alt-right dominate cable television coverage and Internet discussions for months, prompted a national debate about whether it’s wrong to be “proud to be white” and provoked liberal activists and university officials alike to anger with his speaking appearances in New York, Florida and California.

The term "alt-right" covers a loosely defined group whose far-right ideology includes racism, populism and white nationalism. It is embraced by white supremacists, who believe white people should dominate all other races, and white nationalists, who say whites are a distinct nation that needs special political and legal protections. Critics accuse white nationalists of being white supremacists in disguise and say the term "alt-right" is a euphemism to hide racist goals.

Regardless of what name they choose, exact estimates on how many people associate with the movement are difficult to ascertain. Many followers say they're reluctant to be publicly identified because they fear losing their jobs or being attacked for their beliefs.

But the Southern Poverty Law Center says the murkiness serves a purpose — it allows white nationalists to conceal whether their movement is truly a groundswell or just a highly effective but tiny group of people.

Online followings provide a glimpse of white nationalists' reach. The law center says more than 300,000 people are registered as users on the oldest white nationalist site, Stormfront, which bills itself as "the voice of the new, embattled white minority." Spencer's Twitter account has more than 80,000 followers, not all of whom necessarily connect with the movement.

White nationalists argue in online postings that the inclusiveness and diversity espoused by the country’s public school teachers, mainstream media and liberal arts universities wrongly silences their voices. They repeatedly post comments on social media that they want to say “I’m proud to be white” without reprimand and don't understand why it’s OK for someone to declare “Black Lives Matter” but not “European settlers made America great.”

Experts say the movement emphasizes free speech, while downplaying its end game: A United States run by and for white people, with minorities either marginalized or removed.

Adam Leggat, a security consultant who monitors protesters worldwide for the Densus Group, said the words are starting to translate into action. "From an outsider’s perspective what has been happening at the protest events is an extension of the polarization in U.S. politics that has been occurring over the last 10 years or so. It has been stoked by a great deal of scaremongering in some sections of the media and particularly on social media."

Online communities have played a major role in the development of modern-day white nationalist movements, and the benignly named The Foundation for the Marketplace of Ideas plays a key role in sharing those voices. The foundation lists freedom of speech, religion and equality before the law among its tenets, but adds: "We are engaged in a total war in a fight for the existence of our people, and scorched earth tactics is morally proper in this existential struggle. Arguably, it is immoral to not do everything and anything to further the interests of our people.”

Critics say that hateful agenda poses a major danger to the American values of individual freedom, equality and tolerance.

“White nationalism is inherently an ideology of violence," Hankes said. "There’s no peaceful path to that.”

Redirection, victim-blaming and other tactics

Despite lip-service to scorched-earth tactics, white nationalists today have left behind many of the deeply controversial and condemned symbols of the past in favor of more subtle messages to lure in new members.

They use many of the KKK’s tactics, such as invoking the protection of white culture and values, while studiously avoiding the white hoods, cross-burnings and torches of the past. But they’re also using strategies borrowed from left-wing groups and anarchists, including mass protests and suing anyone who responds to their taunts and insults.

More.

A.J. Baime, The Accidental President

At Amazon, A.J. Baime, The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World.

Headless Chicken Leftists?

I'd prefer headless leftists, actually, but then I'd be like Robespierre, or something, heh.

Seriously, this is good, at CounterPunch, "The Year of the Headless Liberal Chicken."

Our in-house pundit's round-up of the year in bull goose looneyism ... https://t.co/qqvg61pkif

— Consent Factory (@consent_factory) December 10, 2017

This may be the first and last time I positively refer to something in Counterpunch, but @CJHopkins_Z23 has written a brilliant piece on the dangers of having tried to Hitlerize @realDonaldTrump and its backfiring. https://t.co/aNzESLdKW8

— Richard Klagsbrun (@KlagsbrunTO) December 13, 2017