Laura Ingraham Warns Trump: You Promised a Border Wall, Not an 'Opaque Electric Fence' (VIDEO)

The problem for me is that even if Trump gets his wall, a DACA deal with the Democrats won't pay off at the ballot box. I doubt many leftist voters will switch over and vote GOP just because Trump caved to political correctness. Leftists won't see Trump as compassionate. They hate him with the heat of a million suns. That's just fact. Playing to the base has been the key to winning for this president, and he risks alienating those voters. I don't know if independents will give him credit. We'll see. Some conservatives like Lori Hendry and Linda Suhler will stick with Trump no matter what, but movement media conservatives like Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and Michelle Malkin won't be pleased. They'll excoriate the president on this issue, and rightly so.

In any case, here's Ms. Laura, from her show last night:

'New Rose'

Since The Sound L.A. went off the air my drive time music listening has become decidedly more eclectic. I guess that's good, because for all of The Sound's greatness (and it was especially great from the point of view of building a fanatically loyal radio-listening community), the weekday 9-5 playlist was actually pretty boring. You heard super popular hard rock hits all day long, with very few off-beat or underground songs (songs you would hear, though, on the weekends, at the odd hours of the day, or during special programming).

So yesterday I had KLOS 95.5 on while doodling around town, and a little before I came home I listened to Guns & Roses' "New Rose," which is a cover of The Damned's original hit punk rock single "New Rose" which came out in England in 1976, when I was in 10th grade.

So, yes, KLOS does have a bit more diverse daytime programming that The Sound used to have. In fact, it turns out that Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones has a daily two-hour show on the station, from Noon to 2:00pm, called Jonesy's Jukebox, which is hilarious because he literally does "whatever he wants."

So, change is good, as they say.

Here's Guns & Roses:

Victoria
The Kinks
12:33

New Rose
Guns N' Roses
12:25 PM

Miss You
The Rolling Stones
11:57 AM

Urgent
Foreigner
11:52 AM

Learn to Fly
Foo Fighters
11:49 AM

All Along the Watchtower
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
11:44 AM

Comfortably Numb
Pink Floyd
11:38 AM

RLRP_SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY (BONO)
U2
11:33 AM

You Give Love a Bad Name
Bon Jovi
11:29 AM

Man In the Box
Alice In Chains
11:25 AM

Hangman Jury
Aerosmith
11:10 AM

Changes
David Bowie
11:06 AM

Pour Some Sugar On Me
Def Leppard

'No, You Move...'

Seen on Twitter in August, upping it now, in case I haven't upped it, lol.

#JamesDamore you are a hero for being brave enough to dare to have a "wrong" opinion/thought, and openly sharing it. I salute you. pic.twitter.com/jEIwZHStnL

— Danacuss (@DAWoodPangaea) August 8, 2017

Fast and Sexy

Seen earlier:

#FastNSexy pic.twitter.com/sSRVoC17JV

— Mary Cute (@MAcuteRY) August 4, 2017

Winston Churchill's Brevity

I'm hoping to go see "Darkest Hour" today, so in the spirit of things:

Winston Churchill's note to his cabinet on brevity. pic.twitter.com/YVWdbMgzGo

— Stephen Taylor (@stephen_taylor) November 30, 2016

Montecito Cellphone Emergency Alerts Didn't Go Out Until After Mudslides Began

Here's the story, at LAT, "Emergency cellphone alerts didn't go out until after mudslides began in Montecito."

I just had to post a screen-cap of the mudslides: Man, that's up to the rooftops.

From the article:

It's unclear how many people would have heeded an emergency evacuation order had it been issued earlier in Montecito. Numerous residents said they knew about the mudslide risk from warnings but decided to stay in their homes anyway. Some said that after fleeing from fire in December, they doubted the rains would pose much of a risk.

David Cradduck, 66, was one of many people in his Montecito neighborhood who stayed.

"I think all of us have learned our lessons on this one. We were all bad children and ignored the warning," he said.

After the fires, some said they had disaster fatigue.

The #MeToo Movement Has Become a War on Men

Following-up from Monday, "The #MeToo Moment Has Now Morphed Into a Moral Panic That Poses as Much Danger to Women as it Does to Men."

Here's Heather Mac Donald's take on the #MeToo moment, at City Journal, "Too Close for Comfort":

The #MeToo movement may have begun as a justified backlash against grotesque predatory behavior and its institutional support, but, predictably, it soon evolved into a war on men and a moral panic over the male libido. Sexual harassment has become an infinitely expandable concept to take down difficult leaders, but history has been made by driven males; they created casualties aplenty but left the rest of us with art, intellectual advances, and the exploration of the unknown. The #MeToo movement will result in a new wave of quotas for females and the marginalization of men. No amount of political and social reengineering, however, will solve the problem of taming and integrating Eros in a world that denies male-female differences.

RTWT.

That phrase "moral panic" keeps cropping up. I think it's going to stick.

Toni Garrn on the Beach

She's a beauty!

At London's Daily Mail, "Sending temperatures soaring! Toni Garrn goes completely TOPLESS as she catches rays during sun-soaked getaway to Hawaii."

And at Taxi Driver, "Toni Garrn Topless on the Beach."

Favorite beach on the island 🥥 #Kauai pic.twitter.com/W7GN3G62ua

— Toni Garrn (@ToniGarrn) January 5, 2018

Danielle Gersh's Storm Watch Forecast

I lived up in Santa Barbara for 7 and a half years. It's an epicenter of natural and weather-related disasters.

And that's to say nothing of L.A. County, which is currently under all kinds of emergency mudslide warnings as well.

Here's the lovely Ms. Danielle with today's forecast, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:

Many Montecito Residents Ignored Warnings, Stayed in Their Homes Until It Was Too Late (VIDEO)

I don't know? I don't think I'd want to leave either. But after the worst wildfires in state history, folks in the area had to know the worst flooding ever was imminent. They just had to know. And now look at the death toll: at least fifteen killed and rescue personnel still looking for survivors.

Previously, "101 Freeway in Montecito Buried Under Tons of Mud and Debris."

And more, at LAT, "Many in Montecito ignored mudslide warnings — until it was too late."

Many in Montecito ignored mudslide warnings — until it was too late https://t.co/jP52LjXU8c

— Andrea Castillo (@andreamcastillo) January 10, 2018

And at KSBY Santa Barbara News 6:

101 Freeway in Montecito Buried Under Tons of Mud and Debris

The freeway up there is four lanes, two heading north and two heading south. It's got both a rural feel to it and a coastal feel. Sometimes the ocean views break through while you're driving through tufts and boughs of old growth trees. It's some of the most scenic coastline in the state. And now the freeway there is just buried, and bad!

At the Los Angeles Times, "101 Freeway, buried under tons of mud and debris, remains closed."

The 101 Freeway, buried under tons of mud and debris, remains closed https://t.co/J3QNKaIBD7 pic.twitter.com/muRdrIhDOW

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) January 10, 2018

Ralph Peters on the North Korean Nuclear Crisis and Diplomatic Negotiations (VIDEO)

Well, his analysis is right on, but I was drawn to his very dapper attire. I don't recall Colonel Peters ever looking this sharp, heh!

(I love that spread collar, his tie and knot, and the soft-shoulders on his suit. Nice color coordination as well. Very sharp indeed.)

With Sandra Smith on Fox News:

Wave of Republican Congressional Retirements in California

A year ago I would have thought the GOP had a strong chance to retain the House this year.

Not now.

Too much has happened, and with this wave of GOP retirements in Congress, Democrats have got to be fired up for massive gains in the November elections. This is more than tsunami territory, as far as I can see. This is going to be an earthquake with world shattering implications. Worlds are colliding!

Roll Call called it in September, "House Retirement Tide Is Coming."

Ed Royce of Buena Park announced he was retiring on Monday. And now today we have the news of Darrell Issa's retirement. These two aren't noobs. They're powerful GOP congressional veterans. Plus, Royce has a huge war chest of over $3 million in the bank, and Issa's independently wealthy --- so campaign finance isn't the issue. It's two things: (1) Donald Trump's iconoclastic presidency has shaken up American politics and many Republicans will be the target of ire as surrogates for all kinds of voter disenchantment with politics, and (2) California's formerly solid Republican majority in Orange County is history. Both Royce and Issa are running in districts that Hillary Clinton won, and while Royce won reelection in 2016 with 57 percent of the vote, Issa won just 50.3 percent and is considered the most vulnerable Republican in Congress.

California's a one-party Democrat state. It's a basket-case state, for that matter. Conservatives talking about a right-wing or populist rebellion in the once-Golden State are deluding themselves. Cast off the dead weight and fight battles elsewhere. As noted many times, I'd move out of state if I could right now, but I've got at least 10 more years at my job. I'll be thinking about greener, more conservative/libertarian pastures over the next few years, and then we'll see...

In any case, at the Los Angeles Times, "Rep. Darrell Issa to retire."

And more at Roll Call, "Darrell Issa Retiring, Opening Up Competitive House Seat."

More at Memorandum.

The Truth Behind Female Orgasam

Is this even "news you can use"?

I don't know?

Maybe Maxim's hurting for traffic, because some of the stuff they post over there is truly bizarre. If it get clicks I guess it's a go?

See, "SCIENTISTS AND PORN STARS REVEAL THE TRUTH BEHIND FEMALE EJACULATION: What does it mean when she squirts?"

Alessandra Ambrosio January Bonus! (VIDEO)

For LOVE Advent:

Hannah Ferguson Uncovered Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 (VIDEO)

Flashback: "Hannah Ferguson takes you behind the scenes of what she had deemed the best photo shoot 'of her entire career' in 2016."

The Weeknd Says Goodbye to H&M Over Racist 'Monkey' Sweatshirt Advertisement

This is the most un-'woke' thing ever --- and it's in the supposedly 'woke' fashion industry, man.

At USA Today, "Seriously: The Weeknd says goodbye to H&M over 'monkey' sweatshirt ad."

woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo. i’m deeply offended and will not be working with @hm anymore... pic.twitter.com/P3023iYzAb

— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) January 8, 2018

Danielle Gersh's Dangerous Rain Forecast

It's going to be a rough day in SoCal.

See the Los Angeles Times, "At least 5 dead as heavy rains trigger flooding, mudflows and freeway closures across Southern California."

Here's Ms. Danielle:

Tua Tagovailoa

I was thinking about this guy this morning. Stunning isn't enough to describe this guy's play, his impact. What a game.

Tua-mania 😉That didn’t take a minute. @SInow cover today pic.twitter.com/qHbrkNKrRq

— Liz Habib (@LizHabib) January 9, 2018

Something to Make Your Day

This is truly the best thing I've seen on Twitter in a long time:

If you have a case of the Mondays, watch this adorable video of baby sisters hugging. pic.twitter.com/UdEY208BHF

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 8, 2018

Devin Brugman Workout

That how she keeps that bikini body in shape!

I am so sore today from this workout 😩😩😩 @bodybygilles it hurts so good pic.twitter.com/WkGfdju8sJ

— Devin Brugman (@devinbrugman) December 15, 2017

Out here living 🌴 @FSMaui @MONDAYSWIMWEAR pic.twitter.com/E1Ciehxd7e

— Devin Brugman (@devinbrugman) December 17, 2017

Happy Birthday @DevinBrugman, thank you for showing us all how to wear a bikini AND a smile with so much grace. You are a timeless beauty! X pic.twitter.com/HtPNMGcyQw

— Monday Swimwear (@MONDAYSWIMWEAR) December 26, 2017

Nice Abs

Heh:

🙌🙏🙌 pic.twitter.com/v7D5ck30r8

— Country Girls (@DownHomeGirls) January 8, 2018

James Damore Sues Google, Alleging Discrimination Against White Male Conservatives

This is mind boggling. Jordan Peterson highlights the legal documents last night, and see the Guardian's report as well (FWIW):

James Damore and his lawyers @JamesADamore deliver a damning document. Read it and weep, boys.... https://t.co/zyUtjagNDJ pic.twitter.com/pp5Iz0vdhf

— Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) January 9, 2018

Google will be fighting a class action that alleges discrimination against white male employees whilst simultaneously fighting a class action that alleges wage discrimination against female employees. #Popcorn https://t.co/nW56SNRHWg

— Claire Lehmann (@clairlemon) January 9, 2018

Oldest McDonald's Restaurant

It's at Lakewood Boulevard and Florence Avenue in Downey. I drove by last week when I was going over to Pico Rivera to shop for used books. Amazing. Turns out there's a museum on site as well.

.@SalenaZito Had to pull over to the corner gas station to get photos of this original McDonald’s, at the corner of Florence and Lakewood Boulevard, in Downey. pic.twitter.com/HZlj8InV5S

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 5, 2018

Also has a sign saying, “Welcome to the world’s oldest-operating McDonald’s.” pic.twitter.com/aTPvfo9U2k

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 5, 2018

Tomi Lahren on California's Sanctuary State Laws

On Hannity from last night:

San Francisco's 'State of Emergency' for Black Students

I'm doodling around online and was looking at articles about the failure of progressive education models, and this piece came up at RealClearEducation.

Remember, this is the most progressive city in the state, and this whole state is supposedly progressive, run by so-called progressive Democrats in Sacramento. But everywhere you look, it's failure all the way down for impoverished minorities.

It's really sad, when you think about it.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Inside the fight over how to address San Francisco's 'state of emergency' for black student achievement":

Black students in San Francisco would be better off almost anywhere else in California https://t.co/107akUpBJ1

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) January 2, 2018

Black students in San Francisco would be better off almost anywhere else in California.

Many attend segregated schools and the majority of black, Latino and Pacific Islander students did not reach grade-level standards on the state's recent tests in math or English tests.

A local NAACP leader called for declaring a "state of emergency" for black student achievement, a problem the city's school board acknowledged. "The problem cannot be reduced to one sickness or one cure," said Rev. Amos C. Brown, San Francisco's NAACP branch president. "Black students have been underachievers. They're living in toxic situations. It's amazing they've done as well as they have done, but it's criminal that sophisticated children in progressive San Francisco are performing at these levels."

But is the solution to fix what's broken, or to start schools anew? Answering that question has unveiled a heated political debate in Northern California.

The district's strategy targets changing instruction, hiring, school culture and instilling the belief that all kids can learn. Vincent Matthews, San Francisco Unified School District's superintendent since May, is expected to present a detailed strategy for improvement early in the new year. An opposing plan from a controversial nonprofit called Innovate Public Schools calls for starting new schools — traditional public or charter — from scratch.

For decades, San Franciscans have called attention to the achievement gap. Following an NAACP lawsuit regarding discrimination, the city entered into a 1983 consent decree mandating desegregation. Since then, the district has changed its school assignment rules.

More recently, a group of organizers from Innovate, which has brought some charter schools to the San Francisco Bay Area and receives money from the Walton Family Foundation, has been convening parents and calling renewed attention to the problem.

In September, Innovate released a report sounding the alarm on San Francisco's achievement gap — and called for the city to establish new schools as a remedy. Innovate's organizers and parents held a news conference outside City Hall and organized a parent meeting with Matthews.

On the most recent round of tests, 87% of San Francisco Unified's black students performed below standards in math, as did 79% of Latino students and 78% of Pacific Islanders. Ninety-six percent of districts in California that serve black students had better reading scores for low-income black students than San Francisco did, Innovate found. Many minority students attend schools that are highly racially concentrated in neighborhoods such as Bayview-Hunters Point, with high rates of staff turnover and relatively inexperienced teachers.

These factors, according to a recent district report, produce "a form of academic segregation that can be especially hard to overcome."

And after decades of gentrification and displacement by tech workers, black families are moving out: In the 1998-99 school year, black students comprised 16% of SFUSD's students, compared with just under 7% last school year.

Some parents were shocked when they saw these statistics — individually, they knew there were issues, but they didn't realize their problems added up to a larger whole. The poor educational outcomes stand in stark contrast to the reputation the city has built for itself as the country's center of technological innovation.

"It's been broken for a long time," said Geraldine Anderson, a mother of three who saw local schools cut back on hours from one child to the next. "I see IT companies coming to San Francisco and so much money coming in for the city, but our kids won't be able to live here or participate."

Innovate has found advocates in parents struggling to find adequate schooling...

It's criminal. Really. Progressives are criminal. Their policies are criminal. I have to shake my head: Ironically, Marx's idea of "false consciousness" explains how generations of disadvantage minority groups have been brainwashed to believe that leftist-Democrat institutions and leaders are protecting and promoting their best interests. Mind-boggling. Man.

More.

The #MeToo Moment Has Now Morphed Into a Moral Panic That Poses as Much Danger to Women as it Does to Men

I might or might not blog about the epic Hollywood hypocrisy of the Golden Globes last night.

In the meantime, here's Claire Berlinski, at the American Interest, "The Warlock Hunt":

Recently I saw a friend—a man—pilloried on Facebook for asking if #metoo is going too far. “No,” said his female interlocutors. “Women have endured far too many years of harassment, humiliation, and injustice. We’ll tell you when it’s gone too far.” But I’m part of that “we,” and I say it is going too far. Mass hysteria has set in. It has become a classic moral panic, one that is ultimately as dangerous to women as to men.

If you are reading this, it means I have found an outlet that has not just fired an editor for sexual harassment. This article circulated from publication to publication, like old-fashioned samizdat, and was rejected repeatedly with a sotto voce, “Don’t tell anyone. I agree with you. But no.” Friends have urged me not to publish it under my own name, vividly describing the mob that will tear me from limb to limb and leave the dingoes to pick over my flesh. It says something, doesn’t it, that I’ve been more hesitant to speak about this than I’ve been of getting on the wrong side of the mafia, al-Qaeda, or the Kremlin?

But speak I must. It now takes only one accusation to destroy a man’s life. Just one for him to be tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion, overnight costing him his livelihood and social respectability. We are on a frenzied extrajudicial warlock hunt that does not pause to parse the difference between rape and stupidity. The punishment for sexual harassment is so grave that clearly this crime—like any other serious crime—requires an unambiguous definition. We have nothing of the sort.

In recent weeks, one after another prominent voice, many of them political voices, have been silenced by sexual harassment charges. Not one of these cases has yet been adjudicated in a court of law. Leon Wieseltier, David Corn, Mark Halperin, Michael Oreskes, Al Franken, Ken Baker, Rick Najera, Andy Signore, Jeff Hoover, Matt Lauer, even Garrison Keillor—all have received the professional death sentence. Some of the charges sound deadly serious. But others—as reported anyway—make no sense. I can’t say whether the charges against these men are true; I wasn’t under the bed. But even if true, some have been accused of offenses that aren’t offensive, or offenses that are only mildly so—and do not warrant total professional and personal destruction.

The things men and women naturally do—flirt, play, lewdly joke, desire, seduce, tease—now become harassment only by virtue of the words that follow the description of the act, one of the generic form: “I froze. I was terrified.” It doesn’t matter how the man felt about it. The onus to understand the interaction and its emotional subtleties falls entirely on him. But why? Perhaps she should have understood his behavior to be harmless—clumsy, sweet but misdirected, maladroit, or tacky—but lacking in malice sufficient to cost him such arduous punishment?

In recent weeks, I’ve acquired new powers. I have cast my mind over the ways I could use them. I could now, on a whim, destroy the career of an Oxford don who at a drunken Christmas party danced with me, grabbed a handful of my bum, and slurred, “I’ve been dying to do this to Berlinski all term!” That is precisely what happened. I am telling the truth. I will be believed—as I should be.

But here is the thing. I did not freeze, nor was I terrified. I was amused and flattered and thought little of it. I knew full well he’d been dying to do that. Our tutorials—which took place one-on-one, with no chaperones—were livelier intellectually for that sublimated undercurrent. He was an Oxford don and so had power over me, sensu stricto. I was a 20-year-old undergraduate. But I also had power over him — power sufficient to cause a venerable don to make a perfect fool of himself at a Christmas party. Unsurprisingly, I loved having that power. But now I have too much power. I have the power to destroy someone whose tutorials were invaluable to me and shaped my entire intellectual life much for the better. This is a power I do not want and should not have.

Over the course of my academic and professional career, many men who in some way held a position of power over me have made lewd jokes in my presence, or reminisced drunkenly of past lovers, or confessed sexual fantasies. They have hugged me, flirted with me, on occasion propositioned me. For the most part, this male attention has amused me and given me reason to look forward to otherwise dreary days at work. I dread the day I lose my power over men, which I have used to coax them to confide to me on the record secrets they would never have vouchsafed to a male journalist. I did not feel “demeaned” by the realization that some men esteemed my cleavage more than my talent; I felt damned lucky to have enough talent to exploit my cleavage.

But what if I now feel differently? What if—perhaps moved by the testimony of the many women who have come forward in recent weeks—I were to realize that the ambient sexual culture I meekly accepted as “amusing” was in fact repulsive and loathsome? What if I now realize it did me great emotional damage, harm so profound that only now do I recognize it?

Apparently, some women feel precisely this way. Natalie Portman, for example, has re-examined her life in light of the recent news...

She's a great writer.

Hard to pin down ideologically, though, interestingly. She's been a pretty vocal critic of President Trump but on many issues you'd think she was a neocon culture warrior.

Smart lady. And a knockout with that blonde hairdo!

Keep reading.

The Warlock Hunt https://t.co/J4HeCxTGof via @aminterest This was, to my surprise, by far the most widely-read piece I wrote in 2017, and I suspect the most widely-read piece I've ever written.

— Claire Berlinski (@ClaireBerlinski) December 31, 2017

White House Adviser Stephen Miller Escorted Out After Heated Interview with Jake Tapper on CNN (VIDEO)

This is so lame.

Stephen Miller's a patriot who refused to kowtow to the leftist press. And idiot progressives have already started a campaign to have him banned from television news, to say nothing of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's call to have Miller "removed" from office.

At Free Beacon, "CNN Source: Miller Escorted Out by Security When He Refused to Leave After Heated Tapper Interview."

And watch:

Jennifer Delacruz Rain and Snow Forecast

This is good. We need the precipitation.

Here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer, for ABC News 10 San Diego:

Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller, 20, From Portland, Oregon, Became a Viral Sensation After She Took Revenge on Man Who Groped Her Glittered Breasts at Rhythm and Vines Festival on New Year' Eve

The culture these days. *SMH.*

At the Sun U.K., "'THEY'LL MAKE A COMEBACK': ‘Glitter boobs’ woman, 20, who attacked festival groper vows to go topless again and says shaming her ‘promotes rape culture’- Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller vows that the 'glitter t**s will be coming back'."

And watch, "The Glitter Boob Chick Speaks Out on Being Topless Covered in Glitter Getting Boob Grabbed."

Melissa del Bosque, Bloodlines

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

Yvette Felarca Ordered to Pay $11,000 for Filing Frivolous Civil Harassment Restraining Order

This makes me happy!

At Legal Insurrection, "Antifa Leader Ordered by Judge to Pay $11,000 to College Republicans Leader."

And at Breitbart, "Court Orders Antifa Organizer to Pay $11,000 for Filing Frivolous Restraining Order."

Trump on Twitter Not as Bad as Everyone's Freaking About

From David Gordon and Michael O'Hanlon, at USA Today, "President Trump's Twitter-fueled foreign policy: Not as bad as you might think: Yes, Trump is a maverick and populist. But thanks to him, 2017 witnessed less of a dramatic departure from the norm in foreign policy than has been alleged."

Jennifer Delacruz's Sunday Forecast

It's been cool in the morning, overcast with clearing. And then warm and sunny in the afternoons. I can't complain.

Here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer with more:

Barbara Palvin for LOVE Advent 2017 (VIDEO)

Stunning.

Bori Kreutz

Oooh, who is this amazing woman?!!

At Editorials Fashions Trends, "BORI KREUTZ BY JULIEN LRVR."

Lili Reinhart

I don't know how, but I just came across this piece at Harper's Bazaar, "'Riverdale's Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart Look Adorable on Vacation Together in Hawaii."

I know Cole Sprouse from the old Disney show "The Suite Life," which I used to watch with my kids. I don't know this woman, though. She's beautiful.

They're just kids. Oh, to be young again.

Wowzers! #Riverdale star, Lili Reinhart, for Cosmopolitan February 2018 Issue. Can't wait to see more photos from her feature!! #BettyCooper pic.twitter.com/9CnXWPjyav

— Riverdale Fans (@RiverdaleFansOL) December 29, 2017

Sarah Silverman's Response to a Twitter Troll

She shows compassion.

Most-read today: Sarah Silverman's response to a Twitter troll is a master class in compassion. After a troll lashed out at Silverman, she found him help for his pain. https://t.co/9qVh97yvUH #Trending pic.twitter.com/ivlMAuzMK6

— CBC Radio (@cbcradio) January 6, 2018

I believe in you. I read ur timeline & I see what ur doing & your rage is thinly veiled pain. But u know that. I know this feeling. Ps My back Fucking sux too. see what happens when u choose love. I see it in you.

— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) December 29, 2017

Click the blog link for the whole exchange. The key here is the Twitter troll was open to a dialogue with Silverman, and she was able to help him. That's one-in-a-million these days. Most trolls will just keep calling you a cunt and telling you to fuck off.

BONUS: "Nude Scenes: Sarah Silverman - 'I Smile Back'."

Psycho Psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee Declares President Trump Unfit for Office (VIDEO)

They're all psycho, inflicted by Trump Derangement Syndrome.

At Legal Insurrection, "Unable to Defeat Trump at the Polls, Dems Enlist Yale Psych Prof to Diagnose Him Mentally Unfit," and "WATCH: Sarah Sanders Slays Media on Trump Mental Health and Bannon Feud."

Rep. James Raskin at the first video below looks like he stuck his fingers in a light socket. These people are f--king twisted.

Roger D. Hodge, Texas Blood

At Amazon, Roger D. Hodge, Texas Blood: Seven Generations Among the Outlaws, Ranchers, Indians, Missionaries, Soldiers, and Smugglers of the Borderlands.

California Mounts Resistance to Trump Administration's New Oil Drilling Proposal

California's the center of "The Resistance" against the Trump administration, and more pathetic examples are coming fast and furious since the new year came around.

Another reason to get out of this state as fast as you can (and unfortunately, I can't right now; not until I retire, if then, depending on what my wife wants to do; hopefully we'll bail out for more conservative/libertarian pastures).

In any case, at LAT, "California has many weapons in its arsenal to block new offshore oil drilling":

California has many tools in its arsenal to block new offshore oil drilling https://t.co/y2Mo6Pmc0R pic.twitter.com/W4iXwAzFdn

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) January 6, 2018

There are two things working against the Trump administration's proposal to open up California coastal waters to new oil and gas drilling: state regulators and simple economics.

California has powerful legal tools to head off new offshore development, and the price of oil offers little incentive to the energy industry to pursue expensive drilling projects next to a hostile state.

"I don't think there's any reasonable chance that there will be any leasing or drilling along the coast," said Ralph Faust, former general counsel for the California Coastal Commission. "This just seems like grandstanding" by the Trump administration.

The Interior Department on Thursday released plans to open vast areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to new oil and gas exploration and drilling through a five-year leasing program that would begin in 2019.

But there are myriad obstacles opponents can throw in front of the proposal, not to mention questions about whether the oil industry has much of an interest in California's offshore reserves at a time when domestic oil production is at its highest level in decades.

Under the plan, the federal government would offer 47 leases in U.S. waters on the outer continental shelf, including two each off the Northern, Central and Southern California coasts and one off Washington and Oregon.

The governors of all three states issued a joint statement Thursday saying they would do whatever it takes to block new leasing off their shores, which include some of the nation's most pristine coastlines.

The first hurdle for the Trump plan is a period of public comment and an extensive environmental review under federal law, which opponents can use to challenge the proposal as ecologically harmful.

In California, the state coastal commission also has the authority to review activities in federal waters to ensure they are consistent with the state's coastal management plans.

"The commission has extremely broad and very powerful authority to say 'no' to federal actions that would harm the coast of California and harm coastal waters," said Steve Mashuda, an attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization.

The commission is ready to use it.

"Nothing galvanizes bi-partisan resistance in California like the threat of more offshore oil drilling," coastal commission Chairwoman Dayna Bochco said in a statement. "We've fought similar efforts before, and we will fight them again."

While the U.S. Secretary of Commerce could override a commission finding that new oil drilling violated the state's management plan, federal courts have tended to side with states in such contests...

More.

Olympia Valance on the Beach

At the Daily Express, "Neighbours bombshell Olympia Valance goes TOPLESS as she flashes eye-popping assets on the beach in Mykonos."

Also, at Taxi Driver, "Olympia Valance Topless on the Beach."

Karlie Kloss by LOVE Magazine (VIDEO)

She's high fashion.

World Leaders on Twitter

So, @Jack made the right decision for once.

At Fox News, "Twitter won't block world leaders or delete their messages."

Twitter won't block world leaders or delete their messages https://t.co/A3gqwcnNHY

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 6, 2018

There’s been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance: https://t.co/Ns0cuKpwd5

— jack (@jack) January 5, 2018

Philipp Meyer, American Rust

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Philipp Meyer, American Rust.

Philipp Meyer, The Son

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Philipp Meyer, The Son: A Novel.

Don Winslow, The Cartel

This one's at the top of my list.

At Amazon, Don Winslow, The Cartel.

Bomb Cyclone

The weather's been perfectly fine on the Left Coast. Indeed, now radical leftists are start to scream "drought" all over the place once again. (And that's after last year's record rainfall.)

On the "bomb cyclone," see the Arizona Republic, "Violent 'bomb cyclone' sends high tide to near record levels in downtown Boston; motorists stranded."

And at CBS This Morning:

Sistine Stallone for LOVE Advent (VIDEO)

She's only 19-years-old.

The Democrats' 'Russian Descent'

This is good, from Kim Strassel, at WSJ, "Tactics in the Trump probe are starting to look a lot like McCarthyism":

Democrats have spent weeks making the case that the Russia-Trump probes need to continue, piling on demands for more witnesses and documents. So desperate is the left to keep this Trump cudgel to hand that Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats have moved toward neo- McCarthyism.

If that sounds hyperbolic, consider an email recently disclosed by the Young Turks Network, a progressive YouTube news channel. It’s dated Dec. 19, 2017, and its author is April Doss, senior counsel for the committee’s Democrats, including Vice Chairman Mark Warner.

Ms. Doss was writing to Robert Barnes, an attorney for Charles C. Johnson, the controversial and unpleasant alt-right blogger. Mr. Johnson’s interactions with Julian Assange inspired some in the media to speculate last year that Mr. Johnson had served as a back channel between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks. There’s still no proof, but in July the Intelligence Committee sent a letter requesting Mr. Johnson submit to them any documents, emails, texts or the like related to “any communications with Russian persons” in a variety of 2016 circumstances, including those related to “the 2016 U.S. Presidential Campaign.”

Mr. Barnes seems to have wanted clarification from Ms. Doss about the definition of “Russian persons.” And this would make sense, since it’s a loose term. Russians in Russia? Russians in America? Russians with business in the country? Russians who lobby the U.S. and might be affected by the election—though not in contact with campaigns?

Ms. Doss’s response was more sweeping than any of these: “The provision we discussed narrowing was clarifying that the phrase ‘Russian persons’ in [the committee letter] may be read to refer to persons that Mr. Johnson knows or has reason to believe are of Russian nationality or descent” (emphasis added).

If this stands, Democrats will have gone far beyond criminalizing routine government contacts with Russians, which is disturbing enough. Trump transition and administration officials have been smeared and subjected to exhaustive investigation merely for doing their job, which includes interacting with Russian officials or diplomats. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has spent the past year having to justify why, as a U.S. senator, he shook hands with the Russian ambassador. The running joke in today’s Washington is that one risks a subpoena merely for ordering a salad with Russian dressing.

But the definition in the Doss letter potentially takes all this much further. It could be that Ms. Doss was simply trying to prevent a recalcitrant witness from evading legitimate requests. But it could mean you are now officially under suspicion by the U.S. government—subject to requisitioning your emails and texts or getting your own subpoena—if your parents or even great-great-grandparents were Russkis. By some estimates, the Russian-American community is more than three million strong, and quite a few of them are Mr. Warner’s congressional colleagues, including Bernie Sanders.

This comes from a Democratic Party that supposedly rejects group-based discrimination. Substitute the words “Arab or Arab background” into a hypothetical Republican version of the letter, and the left would melt down—not without reason.

The Doss letter suggests this is of a piece with the Democrats’ manic effort to keep the Trump-Russia investigations going, no matter what. As Republican congressional leaders have hinted that their probes may be wrapping up, the left’s demands and tactics have become ever more desperate. The Washington Post this past weekend ran a piece straight out of House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff’s talking points, regurgitating complaints that Chairman Devin Nunes has run an incomplete probe. The accusation inspired House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy to quip that Mr. Schiff’s desired witness list is “pretty much every character in any Dostoevsky or Tolstoy novel.”

The House Intelligence committee has collected nearly 300,000 documents, conducted 67 transcribed witness interviews, and issued 18 subpoenas. It’s held 11 hearings, taken 164 hours of testimony, and reviewed 5,251 pages of that testimony. It’s spent 346 days investigating Russian meddling. The country deserves the committee’s final recommendations as to how to avoid further Russian interference, especially given we are again in an election year...

Hat Tip: RCP.