'Let Your Love Flow'

It's the Bellamy Brothers.

My wife took the Challenger to Pechanga a couple of weeks ago and I had on satellite radio in the Jeep Liberty. This song came on and I realized I hadn't heard it forever, and as I was listening I just appreciated what a beautiful and wonderful song it is. You have to count your blessings sometimes, and music's a blessing in your life. Don't take it for granted. Think about it. Nurture it. And cherish it.

The Prosperity Paradox

From Ronald Brownstein, at CNN, "The prosperity paradox is dividing the country in two":

"The big blue metros believe their eco success is threatened by the Trump agenda of hostility to immigration & free trade, prioritization of tax cuts over investments in education & scientific research,the stoking of racial tensions" & SALT deduction limit https://t.co/BmTuqHfZNL

— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) January 23, 2018

While President Donald Trump relentlessly claims credit for the strengthening economy, the nation's economic growth is being driven overwhelmingly by the places that are most resistant to him.

Counties that voted for Hillary Clinton against Trump in 2016 accounted for nearly three-fourths of the nation's increased economic output and almost two-thirds of its new jobs in the years leading up to his election, according to previously unpublished findings provided to CNN by the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution.

That imbalance looks even starker when considering that Clinton won less than one-sixth of the nation's counties. Trump carried more counties than any candidate in either party since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Yet it is the diverse major metropolitan areas that voted in preponderant numbers against Trump that have clearly emerged as the nation's engines of growth. In the process, the big blue metros have pulled further away from the small town and rural communities that provide the foundation of Trump's support.

The key to this divergence has been the large metro areas' dominance of the job opportunities created by the diffusion of digital technologies, largely in white-collar industries from business consulting to software development. Meanwhile, smaller places remain much more reliant on resource extraction (like oil and gas production), manufacturing and agriculture, which have not grown nearly as reliably, or explosively, as the digital economy.

"We have two quite different economies, and what is happening in recent years is growth is largely emanating from these big county metros," says Mark Muro, director of policy at the Metropolitan Policy Program. "These are not political trends. They are deep economic and technological long waves. And while we are in the midst of this long wave, we are not near the end of it."

These trends long predate Trump's presidency. But the President's policy agenda, which prioritizes reviving manufacturing and promoting energy development, generally favors the smaller places over the large metros -- many of which feel threatened by his initiatives, from restricting immigration and trade to limiting the deductibility of state and local taxes.

Muro, like many economic analysts, is dubious that anything Trump does can meaningfully unwind the consolidation of economic opportunity into the largest metropolitan areas. If anything, Muro says, the tilt toward the big blue metros has intensified in recent years. "We think this is a fundamental sea change," he says.

This pattern creates what could be called the prosperity paradox. Even as economic growth is concentrating in Democratic-leaning metropolitan areas thriving in the information economy, Republicans rooted in non-urban communities largely excluded from those opportunities now control all the levers of power in Washington and in most states. That disjuncture raises a pointed long-term question: How long can the places that are mostly lagging in the economy dictate the terms of politics and policy to the places that are mostly succeeding?

Generally through American history, political power has followed economic power. From the Civil War through the Great Depression, Republicans controlled the White House for 56 of 72 years as the party of the rapidly industrializing and urbanizing Northeast and Midwest. During that era, Democrats were marginalized politically as the champions of the agricultural and resource-producing South and West that felt sublimated by the Northern-based industrial and financial economic order.

In the decades just before and after World War II, Franklin Roosevelt built an impregnable New Deal Democratic coalition that married support from traditionally internationalist Eastern business and finance interests with new efforts to integrate the South and West into the national economy (through mechanisms ranging from the Tennessee Valley Authority to the World War II defense buildup). Similarly, the shift of economic clout to the Sun Belt after World War II prefigured the conservative movement's resurgence from the 1960s through the 1990s around Republicans Barry Goldwater of Arizona and Ronald Reagan of California.

Today the nation's core economic divide is less between regions than within them. After mostly declining through the late 20th century, the large metropolitan areas have restored their position as the locus of growth across the country by emerging as the epicenter of the information economy.

That advantage has allowed many metropolitan areas to achieve booming levels of growth and investment unmatched for decades: Tim Burgess, who served as acting Seattle mayor last fall, for instance, recently told me that the city is now enjoying its best economy since the Klondike gold rush in the 1890s. The intense nationwide competition for the second Amazon headquarters -- which produced finalists located solely in large metropolitan areas -- underscores how digital technologies are concentrating economic opportunity into the nation's biggest places.

Data from Muro and Brookings research assistant Jacob Whiton quantify the dramatic extent of that shift.

In 2016, Clinton won fewer than 500 counties and Trump won more than 2,600. But the counties that Clinton carried accounted for 72% of the nation's increased economic output from 2014 through 2016, the most recent years for which figures are available, according to Brookings. The Clinton counties accounted for 66% of the new job growth over that period as well.

In both output and employment the Clinton counties over that recent period accounted for an even higher percentage of the new growth than they did from 2010 through 2016, the full period of recovery from the financial crash of 2008.

The tilt away from Trump is even more pronounced at the very top of the economic pyramid. Of the 30 counties that generated the largest share of new jobs from 2014 through 2016, Trump carried only two: Collin County (north of Dallas) and Maricopa (Arizona), where Republican-leaning suburbs slightly outvoted a strongly Democratic metro core in Phoenix.

Clinton carried all the other places leading the employment growth list. That included not only such blue state behemoths as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Seattle, but also the economic hubs in purple and even Republican-leaning states, from Miami, Oakland County (outside Detroit), to Mecklenburg (Charlotte) and Wake (Raleigh) counties in North Carolina, and Dallas, Bexar (San Antonio) and Travis counties (Austin) in Texas.

In all, Brookings calculated, Clinton won 79 of the 100 counties that contributed the most to economic growth from 2014 to 2016, and 76 of the 100 that generated the most job growth...

These are the fault lines of the next American civil war. When and how it all goes to hell, who knows? But something this fundamentally radical will bring an eruption at some point, and those who anticipate the collapse will be better prepared for the fighting and the fallout.

Still more.

Larry Nassar Scandal: Sports Institutions Failed to Protect Athletes (VIDEO)

Parents, don't leave it to money-hungry, evil and corrupt institutions, like the USOC, to protect your child athletes.

Wow, what a commentary, from Bill Plaschke, at the Los Angeles Times, "Parents of young athletes must face the disturbing truth in light of Larry Nassar's crimes":

The horror on display for the past week in Courtroom 5 of the Ingham County Courthouse in Lansing, Mich., marks the largest sexual assault scandal in this country's history and maybe the most tragic youth sports story ever.

It's the story of nearly 200 females, mostly athletes, including Olympic gold-medal gymnasts, who were molested during examinations by Nassar over the past two decades while he was a USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician.

It's the story of parents continually trusting a sports system that failed them at every level, from the lowliest Michigan State coach to the vaunted USOC.

Nassar, 54, has been sentenced for 60 years in prison on child pornography charges. He also pleaded guilty to 10 sexual assault charges for which he will be sentenced on Wednesday.

As part of the plea deal, Nassar's victims have been allowed to confront him in court — 177 of them have so far, powerful women and girls facing their demon and firing back with strength and inspiration.

They've cried, they've cursed, and some have nearly collapsed, as they've all powerfully given witness to the pain of assault and the will to endure.

Videos of their testimony are all over the internet and parents should watch. That could have been your child. It could have been my child.

Athlete after athlete told stories of being ordered to visit Nassar by a coach, often without a parent present. During what he called treatment, he would vaginally or anally penetrate them for as long as 20 to 40 minutes. When they complained, they were told they didn't understand medicine or were otherwise shushed. Until now.

"Little girls don't stay little forever,'' said Kyle Stephens, the first victim to testify last week, looking directly in Nassar's face as the doctor hid behind his hands. "They grow into strong women who return to destroy your world.''

Mattie Larson, one of the last women to testify, spoke of being molested at the Karolyi Ranch, the former cathedral of USA Gymnastics. The ranch is located in the woods outside Houston, where cell phone service is sketchy and parents weren't allowed. She also described being molested in Minnesota at her first national championships, penetrated by the doctor even with a USA Gymnastics trainer in the same room.

"Larry, you were the only one I trusted,'' she said. "In the end, you turned out to be the scariest monster of all."

The issue of trust has been a recurring theme. The athletes and their parents had to trust a system that churned out Olympians. Or they had to trust the university if they wanted to compete in college. And that gave Nassar his opportunity.

Anne Swinehart, whose daughter Jillian was abused when she was 8, spoke for many of the tortured parents when she said, "To think I let this happen to my child when I was sitting right there…''

This could happen to any of us with children in sports, right? We hand them over to strangers with no questions asked. We send them to distant backyards for pitching lessons, to desolate ice rinks for early-morning skating practice, and we walk away for hours or even entire weekends.

And when some sports authority tells us our child has potential but needs a private therapy session with a team doctor, we're not skeptical, we're thankful for the attention.

In this case, only too late did the parents realize that even the biggest and brightest of sports institutions care mostly about themselves.

Nassar worked for Michigan State, and at least 14 staffers and school representatives reportedly knew about his abuse for more than 20 years. Yet, even when Nassar was finally the subject of Title IX and campus police investigations in 2014, school president Lou Anna Simon didn't even look at the reports, and at least 12 more assaults occurred before the doctor was fired.

Michigan State did worse than ignore Nassar; it enabled him. The school even continued to charge women for sessions in which he was accused of molesting them.

"My mom is still getting billed for appointments where I was sexually assaulted,'' Emma Ann Miller, 15, said in court this week, before the university finally stopped halted its billing.

This scandal is, by numbers, larger than the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case that cleaned out Penn State's president, athletic director and legendary football coach. So how does MSU president Simon keep her job? In one of the most sickening statements in a case full of them, trustee Joel Ferguson said during a radio interview, "There's so many more things going on at this university than just this Nassar thing. … I mean, when you go to the basketball game, you walk into the new Breslin [Center] and the person who hustled and got all those major donors to give money was Lou Anna Simon.'

'For Ferguson's Michigan State, it seems that money trumps morality. Listening to the gymnasts, the same philosophy was followed by USA Gymnastics in the pursuit of Olympic gold...

More.

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin has died.

Weird, but in all my used book shopping --- any book shopping, for that matter --- I haven't come across her books. I kept my eyes out for her too.

In any case, at Amazon, Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness.

New Book By Pussy Riot's Favorite Photographer

It's Bert Verwelius. Nice.

At Maxim, "CHECK OUT THESE SEDUCTIVE NSFW SHOTS FROM A NEW BOOK BY PUSSY RIOT'S FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHER."

Olivia Burns for Maxim

Seen on Twitter:

Olivia Burns beat out 10,000 other models to be the winner of the first-ever “Maxim Cover Model” contest. https://t.co/lyoEB2d0C3 pic.twitter.com/Hpwx4fRPqQ

— Maxim (@MaximMag) January 8, 2018

U.S. Border Patrol Arrests Radical 'No More Deaths' Activists

Good.

At the Arizona Republic, "Timing of Border Patrol's arrest of ASU instructor called 'suspicious'":

Border Patrol arrested a volunteer with No More Deaths last week, hours after the humanitarian groupheld a news conference to accuse border agents of tampering with their water-aid stations in the Arizona desert.

Agents on Wednesday detained Scott Warren, a faculty associate at Arizona State University, on charges of harboring undocumented immigrants.

Warren was arrested near Ajo with two men who had crossed the border illegally.

According to court records, Border Patrol had set up surveillance on a building known as "the Barn," and tracked the two migrants to the location. They also saw Warren approach the building and talk to the migrants.

The migrants turned themselves in to the agents.

The two men allegedly told agents they had researched online how to best cross the border illegally, and had obtained the address of "the Barn" as a place to stop for food and water...

Also, at the Intercept, via Memeorandum, "Eight Humanitarian Activists Face Federal Charges After Leaving Water for Migrants in the Arizona Desert."

And here's the video from the despicable "No More Deaths" radicals:

Leven Rambin Little Cotton Shirt

At Taxi Driver, "Leven Rambin Braless Pokies in Little Cotton Shirt in Her Bathroom."

Officials Start Clearing Out Homeless Encampment Near Anaheim Stadium

Following-up from last week, "False Twitter Memes About Homeless Encampment Along the Santa Ana River Bike Trail."

Anaheim and Orange County officials launched the area's homeless eviction operation yesterday. Reading the Los Angeles Times' report, it turns out one woman's been living there for 16 years. I had no idea, man.

And as I noted at the blog post above, these are not migrants, illegal aliens, or refugees. These are mostly downtrodden white working-class folks. People have been priced out of the housing market, and the county lacks credible services for the homeless. What a bummer. The O.C. Register's piece indicates that 32 out of 33 cities in the county ban overnight camping for the homeless, which criminalizes homelessness. And the state's wasting billions upon billions of dollars building the bullet train to nowhere. Remember, these are progressive Democrats running the state, the holier-than-thou tolerance-preaching leftists. They're full of it, the degenerate hypocrites. No wonder people hate politics.

In any case, click the links:

Denise Lindstrom, a 49-year-old homeless woman, sits in a wheelchair at a homeless encampment on the Santa Ana River trail today in Anaheim, Calif. Authorities on Monday told the homeless living in the encampment that it is being closed down. | Photo @jaethephotog pic.twitter.com/If55OwYPif

— AP Images (@AP_Images) January 23, 2018

Hundreds of homeless face eviction or arrest as O.C. clears encampment amid shelter bed shortage https://t.co/FwK8tVVki8 pic.twitter.com/U5QSKdUgaw

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) January 23, 2018

Amid anxiety among homeless, law enforcement begins plan to gradually clear out Santa Ana riverbed encampments https://t.co/Ayz0LfJBEU pic.twitter.com/QmR1RBCHu3

— O.C. Register (@ocregister) January 23, 2018

Professor Jordan B. Peterson Channel 4 Debate on Gender Equality (VIDEO)

Well, I had to watch the whole thing, considering how this interview generated considerable controversy.

I am surprised, relieved in a profound sense and impressed that channel 4 put this up uncut, enabled comments and, finally, left it online. Maybe there's hope yet. @cathynewman https://t.co/OqQtLqElc8

— Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) January 19, 2018

https://t.co/4Bni5dSGI0

— Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) January 22, 2018

The Jordan Peterson interview fallout will be that he's branded a 'controversial professor', while Cathy Newman will avoid being labelled a ‘controversial interviewer’, predicts Douglas Murray https://t.co/mUz94ujQR0

— The Spectator (@spectator) January 22, 2018

The Spectator piece is cached here, and check the search results on Twitter for "Jordan Peterson Cathy Newman" for more.

Shop Today's Deals

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BONUS: by James O'Keefe, American Pravda: My Fight for Truth in the Era of Fake News.

Nina Agdal Takes It Off (VIDEO)

Actually, Ms. Nina's taken a hiatus from modeling, apparently after being fat- and figure-shamed by a magazine that declined to put her on the cover after a major photo shoot.

She's alright by me, though, and I hope she's doing better.

What a fabulous woman!

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

L.A. Times Publisher Ross Levinsohn Accused of Sexual Improprieties

Well, I've been reading the Los Angeles Times for over thirty years, almost on a daily basis. I had a subscription to the paper when I lived in both Fresno and Santa Barbara, and of course since 2,000 and working at Long Beach City College. Reading the paper becomes just part of your life. I know it's a left-wing paper, but you fight the ideological culture war with and against the media you have. And it's war, that's for sure.

In any case, sometimes I wonder how much longer LAT's going to hold out as a viable concern. There's a unionization effort going on right now, with the results of the vote to unionize going public tomorrow. And according to Business Insider, the Times is looking to go with some sort of "contributor" publishing model, offering the pages of the paper (at least online, I guess) as a platform for writers and commentators.

On top of all that the new publisher, Ross Levinsohn, is now the subject of sexual harassment allegations. That can't be good, man.

At NPR (where else?), "Accusations of 'Frat House' Behavior Trail 'LA Times' Publisher's Career" (via Memeorandum):

My exclusive: LA Times publisher and CEO Ross Levinsohn was a defendant in two sexual harassment cases settled by employers and female colleagues repeatedly accused him of misconduct throughout his career. https://t.co/bKfExuUTAM

— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) January 18, 2018

The Los Angeles Times has given prominent coverage to recent revelations of sexual harassment of women by prominent men, particularly in entertainment and media. Yet a review by NPR finds that the newspaper's own CEO and publisher, Ross Levinsohn, has been a defendant in two sexual harassment lawsuits and that his conduct in work settings over the past two decades has been called into question repeatedly by female colleagues.

This story is based on a review of court documents, financial filings and fresh interviews with 26 former colleagues and associates. Taken in concert, they suggest a pattern of questionable behavior and questionable decisions on the job. The portrait that repeatedly emerges is one of a frat-boy executive, catapulting ever higher, even as he creates corporate climates that alienated some of the people who worked for and with him.

Among the accusations:

— Levinsohn was sued in separate sexual harassment lawsuits as an executive at two different corporations. By his own sworn testimony, Levinsohn admitted to rating the relative "hotness" of his female colleagues in office banter as a vice president at a digital media company. He also testified that he speculated about whether a woman who worked for him there was a stripper on the side.

— Two witnesses say they were shocked to see Levinsohn aggressively kissing and pressing himself against a woman at a glitzy music industry dinner in plain view of his subordinates and his clients. Levinsohn was married at the time.

— Levinsohn once told an executive for the Hollywood Reporter he would not stay at the publication's lunch honoring the entertainment business' most influential fashion stylists because he would have to be surrounded by gays — using a vulgar epithet for them, according to the executive.

Almost all people interviewed declined to be quoted by name, citing concerns for their careers given Levinsohn's current perch atop the Los Angeles Times. It is one of the most important newspapers in the country and it is the most influential media organization in California, the capital to the world's entertainment industry. His behavior, as described by those who worked with him, raises questions about how effectively he can lead the paper as it covers the #MeToo movement and such widespread harassment revelations.

Levinsohn did not respond on the record to detailed questions emailed to him and a Times spokeswoman setting out the chief allegations raised in this story. In a telephone call he initiated Wednesday with NPR's CEO, Jarl Mohn, Levinsohn called those allegations "lies" and said he would retain legal counsel if he felt NPR had disparaged him. NPR sent detailed questions to Tronc's chief executive and public affairs staffers early Wednesday morning. The crisis management strategist Charles Sipkins issued a statement on Tronc's behalf Thursday afternoon saying Levinsohn had been placed under investigation by the corporation after the story was posted.

"This week, we became aware of allegations that Ross Levinsohn acted inappropriately. We are immediately launching an investigation so that we have a better understanding of what's occurred," the statement read. "At Tronc, we expect all employees to act in a way that supports a culture of diversity and inclusion. We will take appropriate action to address any behavior that falls short of these expectations."

Sipkins said Tronc had not suspended Levinsohn...

Threatening legal action didn't seem to help some of the earlier targets of the #MeToo recrimination ("reckoning") campaign, so I doubt it's going to help this guy.

Whatever. (*Shrugs.*)

More at the link.

Daniel Day-Lewis Opens-Up About Retirement

I watched "The Last of the Mohicans" over the weekend, and then "Lincoln" was on the other night, so I got to thinking about Daniel Day-Lewis: Why'd he retire? So then I'm out with my wife yesterday at the Spectrum shopping center in Irvine, and she stepped into a hair salon for a consultation about getting a perm. While waiting, I started reading this article about Day-Lewis at W Magazine. Not sure if I'll see his latest --- and last --- movie, "Phantom Thread," which seems a bit too artsy, even for me.

In any case, at W, "Exclusive: Daniel Day-Lewis Opens Up About Giving Up Acting After Phantom Thread":

Watch Daniel Day-Lewis in an exclusive @Phantom_Thread video clip, here: https://t.co/oXHzhpylNw

— W magazine (@wmag) January 18, 2018

Day-Lewis has not seen Phantom Thread. He has viewed many of his other films, but has no plans to see this one. Earlier this summer, he announced through a written statement that he would not continue acting. He only discussed this decision with Rebecca—and has not spoken publicly about his retirement until now. In the past, he always took extended breaks between films—blue periods and times of decompression that prompted Jim Sheridan, the director of My Left Foot and two other Day-Lewis films, to remark that “Daniel hates acting.” But after a break, he would be seduced anew by a fascinating character, a compelling story, an exciting director. “What has taken over in the past is an illusion of inevitability,” Day-Lewis said. “I’ll think, Is there no way to avoid this? In the case of Phantom Thread, when we started I had no curiosity about the fashion world. I didn’t want to be drawn into it. Even now, fashion itself doesn’t really interest me. In the beginning, we didn’t know what profession the protagonist would have. We chose fashion and then realized, What the hell have we let ourselves into? And then the fashion world got its hooks into me.”

The fashion world, in turn, was obsessed with the film, which was cloaked in secrecy. At first, Phantom Thread was rumored to be about the couturier Charles James, a great innovator whose work was recently celebrated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, who ended life destitute and virtually unknown, living in the Chelsea Hotel. Anderson and Day-Lewis were not interested in telling that story. ­Phantom Thread is one of the most beguiling portrayals of fashion in the history of film, but in the end, it’s not a film about fashion.

Day-Lewis was uncharacteristically inarticulate when speaking about the exact reasons why he found Reynolds Woodcock so overwhelming. Perhaps, I suggested, it was a combination of being back in his homeland and playing an exacting artist like his father. He politely brushed my theories aside. “There are spells in these films that you can’t account for,” he said. “Paul and I spoke a lot about curses—the idea of a curse on a family, what that might be like. A kind of malady. And it’s not that I felt there was a curse attached to this film, other than the responsibility of a creative life, which is both a curse and a blessing. You can never separate them until the day you die. It’s the thing that feeds you and eats away at you; gives you life and is killing you at the same time.”

Day-Lewis paused. I wondered why a man who is widely acknowledged as the greatest actor of his generation, who has won three ­Academy Awards for best actor and is magical onscreen, would want to walk away from his profession. “I haven’t figured it out,” he said. “But it’s settled on me, and it’s just there. Not wanting to see the film is connected to the decision I’ve made to stop working as an actor. But it’s not why the sadness came to stay. That happened during the telling of the story, and I don’t really know why.” He paused again. “One of my sons is interested in musical composition, so I showed him the film Tous Les Matins du Monde, about the French composer Sainte-Colombe. My son was deeply struck by the sobriety that it took to create that work, Sainte-Colombe’s refusal to accept less than what was extraordinary from himself or anyone else. I dread to use the overused word ‘artist,’ but there’s something of the responsibility of the artist that hung over me. I need to believe in the value of what I’m doing. The work can seem vital. Irresistible, even. And if an audience believes it, that should be good enough for me. But, lately, it isn’t.”

Day-Lewis has often wanted to quit after emerging from a character. This time, by making a public announcement of his retirement, he sought to make the decision binding. “I knew it was uncharacteristic to put out a statement,” he continued. “But I did want to draw a line. I didn’t want to get sucked back into another project. All my life, I’ve mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don’t know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do.”

Interestingly, Day-Lewis speaks about the need to retire in the same manner he speaks about the need to take on a character: with a kind of intensity that takes over his entire being. And, as with acting, he is still uncertain of his feelings. “Do I feel better?” he asked, anticipating my question. “Not yet. I have great sadness. And that’s the right way to feel. How strange would it be if this was just a gleeful step into a brand-new life. I’ve been interested in acting since I was 12 years old, and back then, everything other than the theater—that box of light—was cast in shadow. When I began, it was a question of salvation. Now, I want to explore the world in a different way.”

Although there have been rumors that Day-Lewis is going to become a fashion designer, he laughed when I suggested that career. “Who knows?” he said mischievously. “I won’t know which way to go for a while. But I’m not going to stay idle. I don’t fear the stony silence.” He has always had a variety of passions: He once wrote a comedy script with Rebecca; he paints well; he makes furniture; and he is a fan of MotoGP, the competitive motorcycle tournament. But he also has a deep love of film, and it is hard to imagine that he will not continue to contribute to movies in some way.

“They will not let you go quietly,” I said to him. And Day-Lewis smiled. “Hmmm,” he said. “They will have to.”

Keep reading.

False Twitter Memes About Homeless Encampment Along the Santa Ana River Bike Trail

I've written about the O.C.'s homeless problem a few times now, and it's not because of "left-wing socialism," as at least a couple of commenters have argued on Twitter. There's a viral video of the homeless camp along the bike trail near Anaheim Stadium, and some tweeps are claiming that these are migrant camps with "refugees." That's just not the case. These are regular urban homeless encampments, and from what I've learned you've got the full range of people residing in them. The most common cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing. And usually the homeless are those with severe mental illness, people who normally refuse offers of temporary shelter (because they'll lose their freedom and be told what to do and how to live).

Unfortunately, in our tribal political era, fake memes aren't the exclusive domain of your political enemies. Sometimes people on your own side push false narratives, pernicious narratives. And this bothers me.

This person below, Ryan Saavedra, supposedly a "reporter" at the Daily Wire, did not respond to my tweet nor remove or make corrections to his comments.

Oh well. I'm a positivist conservative. I still believe in the truth. Truth should win out. In the end, conservatives will win when truth wins, so I'm sticking with it.

It is not. It’s a homeless camp next to Anaheim Stadium. Anaheim’s about as capitalist a city you’ll see in California. The problem is mental health and lack of jobs and affordable housing. Stop spreading fake memes. #TheOC https://t.co/bUVRGKg980

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 17, 2018

This video was taken in Orange County, California recently.

It is over 10-minutes long, only 2:20 can be uploaded to Twitter.

This is the result of socialism and left-wing politics. pic.twitter.com/8BYWuXo0ly

— Ryan Saavedra 🇺🇸 (@RealSaavedra) January 16, 2018

Freezing Weather is Creating Energy Shortages in the Northeast

I just saw this at Watts Up With That?, "Frigid cold is why we need dependable energy."

Which reminded me of the East Coast natural gas shortages causing problems this last few weeks, not the least of which some folks couldn't heat their homes. Thanks radical left-wing anti-human environmental psychos!

At the Hartford Courant, "Cold Wave Puts Pressure On Energy Suppliers":

Energy industry officials have for years warned that inadequate pipeline capacity limits the amount of natural gas coming into New England during peak demand periods like this one. Several multi-billion-dollar proposals for new pipelines have been blocked or withdrawn in the last two years as a result of financing issues and opposition from environmental and consumer groups.

Herb said the current cold spell’s inadequate gas supply problems have triggered increased demands for heating oil.

“We’ve absolutely seen huge [institutional and industrial] users switching to fuel oil,” Herb said. He said big schools like the University of Connecticut, Yale University and Fairfield University, as well as a number of big industrial plants, are now using oil to power their heating systems.

Steve Sack, of Sack Energy, a major Connecticut fuel oil wholesaler, said those major users are now looking to purchase fuel oil on the spot market.

In some areas of the northeast, including portions of Pennsylvania and New York, major demand for fuel oil is creating shortage worries. But wholesalers and retail home heating oil suppliers say Connecticut isn’t experiencing the same problems.

The primary reason for Connecticut’s comfortable supply situation is that most of this state’s fuel oil comes into New Haven by barge and then is pumped up through the Buckeye pipeline to major portions of Connecticut. That avoids the kind of problems New York is having getting oil barges up the ice-choked Hudson River, Herb said.

“Right now, we’re having no issues with supply,” Sack said. He said areas of Connecticut that aren’t along the pipeline that runs from New Haven up through Springfield, Mass., are being supplied by tractor trailer trucks from the port or terminals along the pipeline.

Sack said wholesale fuel oil prices at New York’s harbor are now running at about $2.06 per gallon, which are “down a little bit right now” from earlier price levels.

Herb said his office is constantly monitoring the supply situation. He said he recently got a call from U.S. Department of Energy officials asking if the federal regional petroleum reserve should be released to help the energy situation.

“We told them no. … We did not need that,” Herb said.

Heating oil company drivers are being pushed to the max to keep getting fuel deliveries to residential customers who need them.

RTWT.

Feminism Has Become an 'Unapologetic Anti-Male Hate Movement'

At the Other McCain, "‘Maybe as an Old Chick I Don’t Get it’":

Back in the day, women knew men wanted sex, but they were cool with it because women wanted sex, too. It may be difficult for young feminists to believe, but there used to be women who actually liked men. In fact, there still are women who like men, but none of those women are invited to write op-eds for the New York Times. In the wake of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 defeat, feminists have removed the mask of “equality.” Feminism is now an unapologetic anti-male hate movement...

There are at least 3,000 words at that post, so click the link and read the whole thing.

Courtney Knox by Jordan Green

At Editorials Fashions Trends, "EROTIC EDITORIALS: COURTNEY KNOX BY JORDAN GREEN."

Minority Unemployment at the Lowest Levels on Record

If voters truly vote their pocketbook, then President Trump should be a shoo-in for reelection in 2020. Alas, I doubt the economic models of elections have much predictive power in this age of political tribalism.

This is good news either way.

At IBD, "Don't Look Now, But Minority Unemployment is at Record Lows Under Trump."

Gallup: Approval of U.S. Leadership Drops to New Low in Global Survey

Who cares?

There's a reason "America First" resonates with the lunch bucket set. Who cares what the rest of the world thinks? Sheesh.

At Politico, "Poll: Under Trump, global approval of U.S. leadership hits historical low." (Via Memeorandum.)

Poll: Under Trump, global approval of U.S. leadership hits historical low https://t.co/y6eHvxMc9j pic.twitter.com/yrc2zyh5Os

— POLITICO (@politico) January 18, 2018