Tuesday, September 11, 2018

The Circus of Resistance

From VDH, at American Greatness:


The resistance to Donald Trump was warring on all fronts last week.

Democratic senators vied with pop-up protestors in the U.S. Senate gallery to disrupt and, if possible, to derail the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) played Spartacus, but could not even get the script right as he claimed to be bravely releasing classified information that was already declassified. I cannot remember another example of a senator who wanted to break the law but could not figure out how to do it.

Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Harvard Law Professor who still insists she is of Native American heritage, called for the president to be removed by invoking the 25th Amendment. Apparently fabricating an ethnic identity is sane, and getting out of the Iran deal or the Paris Climate Accord is insanity and grounds for removal.

Barack Obama decided that ex-presidents should attack current presidents, and thereby reminded the country why Trump was elected. The author of the Russian “reset” and the hot-mic collusionary offer criticized Trump for being soft on Putin. The president who never achieved annualized 3 percent GDP growth (and is the first president since 1933 who can claim this “distinction”) also claimed Trump’s roaring economy was due to Obama-era policies (e.g., raising taxes, Obamacare, more regulations, and “you didn’t build that” commentaries). Fresh from trashing his successor in a funeral speech, the ever audacious Obama called for more decorum.

Bruce Ohr, once number four at the Department of Justice, and whose wife was working with Christopher Steele on the Fusion GPS file (a fact he has never disclosed willingly), now more or less has made a mockery of the FBI narrative of when, why, and how it began surveilling American citizens and infiltrating the Trump campaign. Ohr apparently has testified that well before the election, and well before the application of FISA warrants, he was working with the FBI, the already discredited Christopher Steele, and a Russian oligarch either to smear candidate Trump, or to facilitate the entry into the United States of a once barred and questionable Russian grandee, or both.

Nike hired NFL renegade Colin Kaepernick to peddle its sports products. For all its billion-dollar market research, it apparently did not know what Donald Trump’s animal cunning had almost immediately surmised: a majority of Americans do not appreciate the pampered multimillionaire Kaepernick sanctioning violence against the police by wearing “pig” socks, or mocking the National Anthem by taking a knee. Nike could just as well have hired Bowe Bergdahl to push its sneakers.

The Deep State Emerges

Then we come to an insurrectionary “resistance” op-ed in the New York Times, an insider scoop about a collective “undercover” effort to nullify the current presidency...
Keep reading.

From Jamie Glazov, at FrontPage Magazine, "Memories of Leftist Glee About 9/11":

I will never forget how, seventeen years ago on this day, many of the leftists around me in my neighborhood and community had very little trouble expressing their glee about Al Qaeda' strike on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

I had known some of these leftists for years, and after the fall of the Soviet empire in 1989–91 many of them bitterly lamented to me that the “alternative to capitalism” was now gone. A significant number of them retreated into a silent and sullen shell.

Then came 9/11.

Almost overnight, these individuals underwent a miraculous transformation. A bright sparkle could once again be detected in their eyes, as their revolutionary selves came out of a deep slumber. Never had I seen them so happy, so hopeful, and ready for another attempt at creating a glorious and revolutionary future. Without doubt, September 11 represented a personal -- and morbid -- vindication for them.

The images of the innocent people jumping to their deaths from the Twin Towers evoked no sympathy from these individuals. Instead, they saw only poetic justice in American commercial airplanes plunging into American buildings packed with people. For my leftist acquaintances, the jihadist terror war gave promise of succeeding in a project in which Communism had failed: to obliterate the capitalist system itself. “The U.S. brought this on itself,” they stated repeatedly -- and with scornful self-satisfaction.

These disturbing personal encounters I had were a microcosm of the Left’s behavior on the U.S. national scene. In the blink of an eye after the Twin Towers went down, leftists were beating their breasts with eerie repentance for their own government’s supposed crimes and characterizing the tragedy that their nation had just suffered to be some form of karmic justice.

Immediately following the 9/11 attack, leftist academics led with a drum roll. The very next day after the terrorist strike, the Left's intellectual guru, Noam Chomsky, exonerated the terrorists, stating that the Clinton administration’s bombing of the pharmaceutical plant in Sudan constituted a far more serious terrorist act and warning that 9/11 would be exploited by the United States as an excuse to destroy Afghanistan.

Leftist academics across the country regurgitated Chomsky’s themes, cheering the 9/11 terrorist acts, which they deemed a just retribution for America’s transgressions...
More.

Jennifer Love Hewitt Returns

At Too Fab, "Jennifer Love Hewitt Killed This Look FOX All-Star Party."

BONUS: "Ashley Tisdale Gets Too Much Sun in Tulum," and "Ashley Tisdale in a Red Bikini While on Vacation in Tulum."

Norah O'Donnell Statement on Leslie Moonves (VIDEO)

First, from Ronan Farrow (who else?), at the New Yorker, "Leslie Moonves Steps Down from CBS, After Six Women Raise New Sexual Harassment Claims."

And the flashback to last November, "Charlie Rose Fired by CBS, Dropped by PBS, After Sexual Harassment Allegations."

And here's Ms. Norah, from yesterday's CBS This Morning:



Republican Insiders Prepare for Electoral D-Day

I've been holding off on election projections, but as I always point out, the president's party normally loses seats in the midterms. Even with the strong economy, I don't expect this year to be all that different, especially in the House. I doubt the Democrats will take the Senate, though, since they're defending like 25 seats, and 10 are in states in which President Trump won (in some cases by double digits).

But we'll see.

We'll see.

At Vanity Fair, "“The House Is Already Lost”: G.O.P. Insiders Prepare for Electoral D-Day":


At this stage of the game, losing the House is the most likely proposition. It’s just a matter of how bad it gets,” said a disconsolate Republican strategist with clients on the ballot, describing the final, desperate scramble to rescue the G.O.P.’s 23-seat majority from an impeachment-happy opposition. In Washington, a familiar sort of fatalism has taken hold. Just weeks until early voting kicks off, a spate of fresh public-opinion polls show Democrats on the precipice of a resounding victory. Time is short; resources are dwindling, and the singular figure with the power to make or break the party—Donald Trump—seems pathologically incapable of standing down and letting a booming job market do the talking. “You have people imploring the president not to put them in a position that will harm them—and therefore harm him,” a veteran G.O.P. operative said of Republican congressional leaders.

The pendulum of political power, which historically swings against the White House during the midterms, could be especially savage this year, given the sharp dissatisfaction with Trump in America’s usually Republican-leaning suburbs. Washington’s high-powered consulting class is betting on it. The lobby shops and advocacy organizations that play both sides and thrive on proximity to power are preparing for a changing of the gavel and moving to forge connections with Democratic committee chairmen in the House beginning in January of 2019, when the 116th Congress is seated. “Downtown, there is a sense that the House is already lost for Republicans,” a G.O.P. lobbyist and former senior House aide told me. “There is a hiring spree for plugged-in House Democrats who want to lobby. So, downtown is already planning on the Democratic takeover; the bets are on how big the flip will be.

Democratic operatives aren’t being snapped up by K Street at quite the same rate as two years ago. Lobbying shops were chastened by Trump’s victory in 2016 and are awaiting more evidence to confirm what appears to be a surging blue tide. But professional Washington is not unconvinced. They’re privy to much of the same data being poured over by dialed-in Republicans, and believe an end to one-party rule is on the horizon. Whatever bump the Republicans enjoyed earlier this year, during the brief period of normalcy after Trump signed the historic, $1.3 trillion tax overhaul into law, appears long gone. So is the goodwill House Republicans anticipated when they pictured a fall campaign with a national economy growing at an annual clip of 4 percent, and an unemployment rate that had plummeted below 4 percent. “I’m advising clients to start covering their bases with would-be chairs,” said another Republican lobbyist, referring to the Democrats who are likely to take over powerful House committees, such as Energy and Commerce or Ways and Means.

The political forces battering the G.O.P. aren’t hitting the two houses of Congress equally. As I reported for the Washington Examiner and discovered during a summer swing through the Midwest, 2018 is essentially a tale of two campaigns, reflective of the balkanization gripping our politics. As bad as the midterms look for House Republicans, with dozens of seats in danger, their Senate colleagues begin the fall chase better positioned. The party’s 51-49 Senate majority, propped up by a battleground that runs right through the heart of Trump country, could actually expand, if Republicans can navigate a few molehills, and if those molehills don’t grow into mountains. Rep. Beto O’Rourke might upset Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, granted that has as much to do with the Republican’s own image problems as the Democratic Party’s Senate prospects.

Democrats are on the defensive in a handful of ruby red states a world away from restless, upscale suburbia...
 More.

Monday, September 10, 2018

Nice Lady

Seen on Twitter, dang!


Camila Morrone Bikini Pics

At Hollywood Tuna, "Camila Morrone Is One Busty Insta-Model."

BONUS: At Drunken Stepfather, "MORNING HANGOVER DUMP OF THE DAY."

Jennifer Delacruz's Overcast Monday Forecast

It'll clear up by the afternoon, but that's a total fog layer along the coast.

Here's the lovely Ms. Jennifer, with her hair up in some kind of bob, at ABC 10 News San Diego:



Sunday, September 9, 2018

Stephen Harrigan, The Gates of the Alamo

*BUMPED.*

I just finished Sylvia Plath's, The Bell Jar (which I picked up on a whim).

Now I'm starting Stephen Harrigan's, The Gates of the Alamo.

And thanks for shopping my Amazon links.




Rita Ora of the Day

At Drunken Stepfather, "RITA ORA NIPPLES OF THE DAY."

Also, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY."

BONUS: "Rita Ora Relaxes in a Bikini by the Pool in France," and "Rita Ora in White Lace."

'Straight Outta Caracas'

Omg this is hilarious.

At Twitchy, "‘I Can’t Get No Socialism’: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s photo inspires HILARIOUS titles and songs for her new album":

This photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez where she appears to be sitting on some seriously worn out stairs wearing fairly pricey threads (and check out those shoes!) reminded Matt’s Idea Shop of the type of photo a band or a pop diva would use for an album.

Gavin Newsome, Former Mayor of America's Biggest Urban Dumphole, Rose to Power Backed by Bay Area's Big-Money Interests

If you haven't yet, make sure you read Joel Kotkin's The New Class Conflict, which details the political realignment of the last few decades whereby the Democrat Party has become the party of the elite coastal corporate rich.

These new Democrat leftists don't really care about the poor --- consider Mark Zuckerberg building a walled digital castle in San Francisco's "hipster central Dolores Park," using migrant laborers and pissing off the district's neighbors (who dare not say a word lest they face retaliation). No, they care about their corporate profits and the leftist virtue signaling. You never see far-left Democrat elites living a lifestyle of those they say they represent. Indeed, their actual policies, especially in California --- with its obsession on climate change regulation --- keep people poor, saddling them with higher taxes, unaffordable housing, and wasteful government bureaucracy.

California is the ultimate wealthy insider's country club of power and privilege, but only if you're a soi-disant progressive.

Meh.

Newsome's a loser and we'll be saddled with his terrible far-left San Francisco policies for nearly a decade.

At the Los Angeles Times, "How eight elite San Francisco families funded Gavin Newsom’s political ascent":

Gavin Newsom wasn’t born rich, but he was born connected — and those alliances have paid handsome dividends throughout his career.

A coterie of San Francisco’s wealthiest families has backed him at every step of his political rise, which in November could lead next to his election as governor of California.

San Francisco society’s “first families” — whose names grace museum galleries, charity ball invitations and hospital wards — settled on Newsom, 50, as their favored candidate two decades ago, said Willie Brown, former state Assembly speaker and former mayor of the city.

“He came from their world, and that’s why they embraced him without hesitancy and over and above everybody else,” said Brown, who is a mentor to Newsom. “They didn’t need to interview him. They knew what he stood for.”

A Times review of campaign finance records identified eight of San Francisco’s best-known families as being among Newsom’s most loyal and long-term contributors. Among those patrons are the Gettys, the Pritzkers and the Fishers, whose families made their respective fortunes in oil, hotels and fashion. They first backed him when he was a restaurateur and winery owner running for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1998, and have continued their support through the governor’s race.

They are not Newsom’s largest donors: The families in total have given about $2 million of the $61 million that donors have contributed to his campaigns and independent committees backing those bids. But they gave while he was a relative unknown, providing crucial support to a political newcomer in the years before his campaign accounts piled high with cash from labor unions, Hollywood honchos, tech billionaires and donors up and down the state.

Now the families appear poised to see their investments pay off.

These donors are mostly liberal, inspired by Newsom’s history as an early supporter of progressive causes, including same-sex marriage as San Francisco mayor in 2004. But some are Republicans, including President Trump’s new ambassador to Austria, who are drawn by Newsom’s background as a small businessman...
 More.

RELATED: At Instapundit, "WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-RUN STATES SO CLASS-BOUND AND STAGNANT? Joel Kotkin: The Hollowing-Out of the California Dream. For minorities in the Golden State, opportunity and upward mobility are hard to come by."

Saturday, September 8, 2018

Nike's Colin Kaepernick 'Just Do It' Campaign (VIDEO)

At Gateway Pundit, "Tucker Carlson on Nike Honoring Kaepernick: “When the Most Successful People Hate the Society You’ve Got a Problem” (VIDEO).
"On Tuesday Tucker Carlson weighed in on Nike’s decision to use Kaepernick as its public face.
Tucker Carlson: It’s factually ludicrous. You can’t give up everything and maintain a Nike contract. It’s the executives profiting on him and his attacks on the United States while simultaneously denying they are attacks on the United States… This is an attack on the country. So it would be very different if he were saying I’m protesting this politician or this policy or this specific person for doing this specific thing. But no, sitting during the National Anthem is a way of making a broad-based generalized and therefore impossible to rebut attack against the country that made him and Nike rich. Again there is something really decadent about that when the most successful people in your society hate the society you’ve got a real problem. It’s a metaphor for our entire ruling class...
And watch:



Alternative for Germany (AfD) Surges in Popularity

Hey, Merkel's almost single-handedly bringing the new "hard-right" to power in Germany.

At Blazing Cat Fur, "Germany: Anti-Immigration Party Surges in Popularity."

Heather Mac Donald Discusses The Diversity Delusion

Video at AEI, "Heather Mac Donald on how universities have become hatred machines poisoned by identity politics."

And at Amazon, Heather Mac Donald, The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture.

Rose McGowan Posts Defiant Instagram Photo on Her Birthday

She's posting fully topless, which I don't think you're supposed to do on Instagram

At Hollywood Life, "Rose McGowan Shows Off Naked Breasts in Proud Instagram Post on Her Birthday."

And at Taxi Driver, "Rose McGown Goes Fully Topless on her Instagram."

BONUS: At Rolling Stone, "Rose McGowan Feels ‘Betrayed’ by Asia Argento," and at People, "Asia Argento Slams Rose McGowan for 'False Claims' Over Sexual Assault Allegation: She's 'Wrong'."

Kara Del Toro in Black Bikini

She's lovely.

At Hollywood Tuna, "Kara Del Toro Belongs in a Bikini."

Election 2018 Pits Surging Economy Against Polarizing President

This is interesting.

At LAT, "Trump's first midterm pits a booming economy against one of history's most unpopular presidents":


The midterm election now just over eight weeks away is shaping up as a seismic collision between two powerful and competing forces, a rip-roaring national economy and a deeply polarizing and unpopular president.

At stake on Nov. 6 is not just control of Congress but the fate of President Trump as he faces a special counsel investigation and a series of scandals that Democrats, given the power on Capitol Hill, would eagerly exploit.

Polling and turnout in a raft of primaries and other elections suggest Democrats are highly motivated — more so than Republicans — and the party seems poised to gain strength in Washington as well as capitals across the country.

GOP hopes of forestalling a November debacle rest mainly on the strength of these boom times.

Economic growth has hit the fastest clip in nearly four years. Consumer spending is brisk. Unemployment is near an 18-year low, and average hourly wages are climbing — 2.7% in July, compared with a year ago.

“History tells you there should be a big blue wave,” said Scott Reed, a political strategist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but he sees prosperity acting as a breakwater. “People feel good.”

The chamber and other GOP allies are spending millions of dollars in hopes of translating those upbeat sentiments into Republican votes, airing advertisements like one praising Rep. Steve Knight — who faces a tough reelection fight against Democrat Katie Hill in the high desert outside Los Angeles — for supporting the tax bill Trump signed into law.

“It’s not cheap to live here,” says a narrator, as a scene of the L.A. skyline yields to a bird’s-eye view of the U.S. Capitol. “So when Congress cut taxes for working families, that made a difference.”

If a wave is coming, California will probably feel it for the first time in decades. Indeed, the state that beats at the heart of the Trump resistance is central to Democratic hopes of seizing control of the House.

There are six Republican-held districts in addition to Knight’s — threading through Southern California and the Central Valley — that Democrat Hillary Clinton carried. Half a dozen appear to be in play, owing not just to anti-Trump attitudes but political lines drawn to enhance competition. (Voters saw to that in 2010 by creating an independent redistricting commission.)

Still others in the Central Valley, east San Diego County and the Sierra Nevada could flip in the event of a strong Democratic tide.

Winning just a few of those contests would go a considerable way toward giving the party the 23 seats needed for a House takeover; Republicans are counting on a ballot measure repealing a state gas tax hike to boost GOP turnout and cut its California losses.

The Senate presents a different picture. Democrats face a much steeper path to take control, even though the party needs just a two-seat gain...
More.


Friday, September 7, 2018

Shop Today

At Amazon, Shop Deals: New deals. Every day. Shop our Deal of the Day, Lightning Deals and more daily deals and limited-time sales.

And see especially, Blendtec Total Classic Original Blender with FourSide Jar (64 oz), Commercial-Grade Power, 6 Pre-programmed Cycles, 10-speeds, Black.

Here, Dash Chef Series 64 oz Blender with Stainless Steel Blades + Digital Display for Coffee Drinks, Frozen Cocktails, Smoothies, Soup, Fondue & More - White.

Also, Certified Refurbished Amazon Echo (1st Generation).

More, HP Colorwheel 15.6" Notebook, HD Touchscreen, Intel N3710 Quad-Core, 4GB DDR3, 1TB SATA, Intel HD Graphics, 802.11ac, Win10H - Natural Silver (Certified Refurbished).

Still more, MOSSY OAK 14-inch Bowie Knife Wood Handle with Leather Sheath.

Plus, Buck Knives 110 Famous Folding Hunter Knife with Genuine Leather Sheath - TOP SELLER.

More here, CLIF BAR - Energy Bar - Blueberry Crisp - (2.4 Ounce Protein Bar, 12 Count).

BONUS: Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure.

The Left is Your Enemy (VIDEO)

A great, great new video from Dennis Prager:



The Left's 'New Socialism'

The left's new socialism is pretty the same as the left's old socialism.

See Jedediah Purdy, at Politico, and then watch the video from the Victims of Communism Foundation below:




NFL Season Opener Fumbles

I'll tune in Monday night for the Rams, but mostly because the Angels are out of contention and I'll be bored.

Besides, I'm rooting for the Rams this year. Hopefully they'll eschew the anthem protests, sheesh.

At Deadline Hollywood, "Eagles Bring Out “Philly Special” to Win But NFL Kickoff Ratings Down From 2017":


With only Eagles defensive end Michael Bennett taking to the bench in protest during the national anthem, when things finally did kick off on NBC just after 9 PM ET, it certainly didn’t seem to be the most inspiring game. At one point, tell-it-like-it-is Philly fans were booing the current Super Bowl champs on live TV for their lame efforts on the field.

Then, as it looked like Atlanta would be grinding out a win, the action really started right near the end as the Eagles dusted off a variation of their Super Bowl move the Philly Special. With some quick moves, QB Nick Foles snagged a 15-yard pass from teammate Nelson Agholor on a reverse to seal an 18-12 victory for the Eagles and some respect from the more than just the fans at Lincoln Financial Field.

Sadly, that glory did not translate into the ratings

With a 13.4/5 in the metered markets, the post-midnight ending game is down 8% from last year’s kickoff of September 7, 2017. In one of the lowest season openers ratingswise and facing portions of a cable news-covered rally by a very NFL critical President Donald Trump, last night’s game is not only down from last year, but 2016, 2015 and 2014 – all of which saw successive declines.

To add more injury to that, the 2017 8:42 PM ET-starting season opener between the victorious Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots ended up with a weak 7.7/29 rating among adults 18-49 and 21.8 million viewers. That was a double digit decline from 2016 and the worst total audience an opening game had since 2009.

ven in a TV landscape where ratings and viewership are noticeably dipping, unless you are This Is Us or Game Of Thrones, those results have to worry the NFL and the broadcasters, especially the still Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox with its pricey Thursday Night Football debuting this year

We’ll update with more NFL kickoff numbers and other ratings like Big Brother, which was on too last night, as we get them later today...
More.

Megan Parry's Friday Forecast

She's such a sweetie.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:



Tesla Stock Dives After Elon Musk Smokes Blunt on Joe Rogan Show (VIDEO)

At the Guardian U.K., "Tesla shares crash after Elon Musk smokes joint on live web show."


Josephine Skriver of the Day

At Drunken Stepfather, "JOSEPHINE SKRIVER THE ROBOT AT VICTORIA’S SECRET EVENT FOR SOME FAKE ART BOOK OF THE DAY."

Hot Girls Smoking Weed

At Drunken Stepfather, "HOT GIRLS SMOKING WEED FOR 420 FRIDAY OF THE DAY."


Thursday, September 6, 2018

'Sex on Fire'

From Kings of Leon, during Tuesday morning's drive-time.


My Hero
Foo Fighters
6:46am

The Lost Boys
People Are Strange
6:43am

Jessie's Girl
Rick Springfield
6:40am

Set Fire To The Rain
Adele
6:36am

Eye Of The Tiger
Survivor
6:32am

Africa
Toto
6:20am

Sex On Fire
Kings Of Leon
6:17am

Let's Dance
David Bowie
6:13am

Highway To Hell
AC/DC
6:09am

Amber
311
6:06am

Take Me Home Tonight
Eddie Money
6:03am

Close To Me
The Cure
5:52am

Alexis Ren's Life Update (VIDEO)

She says she was in a "sad place" earlier this year, and thanks fans for having patience with her.

A nice, gracious young lady.



Laura Ingraham Rips Democrats' Treatment of Brett Cavanaugh's Senate Confirmation Hearings (VIDEO)

This was Ms. Laura's segment from Tuesday night, after the first day of hearings.

She eviscerates the diabolical, disgusting Democrats.

Watch, this is excellent:



Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Danielle Gersh's Thursday Forecast

She's an adorable sweetie.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



White House Searches for 'Anonymous' New York Times Op-Ed Writer

Following-up, "New York Times Publishes Anonymous Op-Ed Attacking President Trump."

At WSJ, "White House Searches for Anonymous Inside Critic":

WASHINGTON—White House aides launched a search for the anonymous author of an opinion column who claimed Wednesday to be part of a secret group of officials inside the administration acting as a check on President Trump’s “worst inclinations.”

An angry president called the New York Times piece “a disgrace” and slammed its author as “gutless.”

The writer was identified only as a senior administration official. A New York Times spokeswoman declined to comment when asked for a description of that term.

“This is the stuff we have to deal with, and, you know, the dishonest media,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about the column. The president was ready for the question, pulling a sheet of paper from his suit-jacket pocket and responding with a list of what he said were his administration’s accomplishments, including low unemployment.

Later in the afternoon, Mr. Trump tweeted a video of his response to the op-ed and followed it with a second tweet that read simply, “TREASON?”

Inside the West Wing, top officials canceled afternoon meetings and huddled behind closed doors to strategize about how to expose the author, White House officials said. Some officials called reporters to chase down rumors about who was behind the op-ed, and whether it came from inside the White House or a cabinet-level agency.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that the op-ed was written by a “gutless, anonymous source.” Both she and Mr. Trump referred to the Times as “failing,” despite statistics from the company showing subscriptions have increased since his election.

“The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected president of the United States,” Ms. Sanders said. "He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people. This coward should do the right thing and resign.”

Since its inception, the Trump administration has included some senior officials—both conservative and more liberal—who have sought to curb Mr. Trump’s direction, according to people familiar with the matter...
Still more.


The Troubling Cowardice of Trans Ideology

This is a great piece, from Meghan Murphy, "How have we let scientific study become hate speech?":

The growing trend in young people suddenly deciding they are “in the wrong body” and must “transition” to the opposite sex is alarming. It means that more and more kids are being sent down a path of drastic body and life changes. The consequences of getting this wrong could not be more serious. Study after study has shown that a majority of youth who claim to have gender dysphoria do not continue to experience this in adulthood. Yet the puberty blockers and the hormone treatments given to ‘trans kids’ eventually lead to permanent sterilisation. And yet as the trend takes hold, the attempts to shut down public debate also grow stronger – which is just as alarming.

Last month, Brown University assistant professor Lisa Littman published a paper looking at this “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” in adolescents and young adults. Through surveying the parents of these teens, she found that this sudden onset of “gender dysphoria” was taking place in peer groups in which one or more friends became gender dysphoric at the same time. In other words, this seemed to be kids following trends.

From the 256 surveys Littman collected, she found that a large majority of these youths were female (82.8%), and 41% had identified as non-heterosexual prior to identifying as transgender. Almost two thirds had also been diagnosed with at least one mental health disorder or neurodevelopmental disability before they claimed to have gender dysphoria.

One might deduce, based on this evidence, that these (mainly) girls were not, in fact, transgender, but lesbians and/or struggling with other mental health issues. And crucially, that these factors should be explored before leaping to start “transitioning” — a process that eventually involves a lifetime of hormone treatments and a series of complicated surgeries.

These facts, though, have been deemed unspeakable. Those who dare question the concept of gender identity itself — that is that one can have, say, a male body, but be truly a woman ‘on the inside’ — are treated as blasphemers and bigots, viciously harassed, attacked, and even fired from their place of work.

Dr. Kenneth Zucker is a case in point. A sexologist and psychologist who ran the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) in Toronto for more than 30 years, he was fired after trans activists mounted a smear campaign against him. Zucker’s ‘crime’ was to suggest that rather than immediately start children who think they have gender dysphoria on the transition process, perhaps we should first try to “help children feel comfortable in their own bodies.” Zucker himself was not actually opposed to the transition process — if the dysphoria of the youth he was working with persisted, Zucker would support them in their path to transitioning.

But simply acknowledging that desistance happens was apparently unacceptable. Over 500 professional clinicians and academics signed a petition in support of Zucker, arguing that his dismissal was “politically motivated” and that this should “stand as a warning to any clinical researcher who is or considers working at the CAMH: In the event of a conflict with activists for a fashionable cause, the CAMH might well sacrifice them — and the individuals and families they serve in their clinics — for some real or imagined local political gain.” But the damage was done. Zucker had been fired, and his reputation tarnished...
More.

Kate Bock's Travel Tips (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:



Josie Canseco in Demand

At Galore, "JOSIE CANSECO IS THE IN DEMAND MODEL TO LOOK OUT FOR THIS SEASON."

And at Drunken Stepfather, "JOSIE CANSECO HOT AND HALF NAKED FOR GALORE OF THE DAY."


New York Times Publishes Anonymous Op-Ed Attacking President Trump

This is terrible. Disgusting.

At the hateful Old Gray Lady, "I Am Part of the Resistance - Inside the Trump Administration":

President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.

It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.

The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

I would know. I am one of them.

To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.

But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.

That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.

The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.

Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.

In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.

Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.

But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.

From the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims.

Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.

“There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next,” a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he’d made only a week earlier...
Still more (FWIW).


Stoneman-Douglas Parent Fred Guttenberg Stalked Brett Kavanaugh at Lunch Break During Senate Confirmation Hearing (VIDEO)

Ed Morrissey has the analysis, at Hot Air, "Today’s “Controversy”: Kavanaugh Declines Handshake From Father of Murdered Parkland Student":
If Zapruder-style analysis of a missed handshake ends up being the most eventful thing to happen at this hearing, and it might, we should never hold a hearing again.

Actually, we should never hold a hearing again even if this isn’t the most eventful thing to happen. These spectacles are insufferable, insulting, grandstanding garbage for whichever party happens to be in the minority. If I were Grassley, I would have warned them this morning after the first outbursts that another one would force him to adjourn the hearing and recommend that McConnell immediately call a floor vote on the nominee. (The only senators truly in doubt about how they’re voting are red-state Democrats whose votes aren’t needed for confirmation anyway.) And when Schumer inevitably shrieked that America didn’t get a hearing on the new justice, he’d be reminded that that was what his party chose with how they behaved.


And if you’re reading that thinking, “That sounds like how you’d treat a five-year-old, taking away their toys when they won’t stop acting out”: Right. Correct.

As for the non-handshake:


More at the link.


Sen. Ben Sasse Conducts Civics Lesson on Restoring 'Proper Constitutional Order' (VIDEO)

Thank goodness for YouTube.

This is fascinating.

At the Weekly Standard, "Sasse Rises Above":

Day one of the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings are stretching into their sixth hour, and we’ve hardly heard a word yet from the nominee himself. Instead, we’ve largely been subjected to a punishing slog of senatorial grandstanding, with members of both parties trading rhetorical barbs and dissertations on the importance of the day, set to a soundtrack of scolding and shrieking protestors being escorted one-by-one from the chamber. (Senator Mike Lee, to his credit, instead treated listeners to a slightly boring but informative history of how the Supreme Court confirmation process shaped up over the last hundred years.)

But Senator Ben Sasse took a different approach, eschewing the partisan bickering to offer a Schoolhouse Rock-tinged civics lesson on why SCOTUS proceedings had grown so contentious in the first place...
RTWT.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Amber Lee's Low Pressure Weather Forecast

It's been somewhat overcast and mild.

Here's the lovely Ms. Amber, for CBS News 2 Los Angeles:



Petulant Toddler Democrats Launch Campaign of Pandemonium to Protest Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation (VIDEO)

I worked today, teaching classes. I had no time to tune into the Senate hearings on the Kavanaugh confirmation, although I would have liked to. But then I would have been disappointed and disgusted at the literal circus that Democrats created to somehow --- anyhow --- defeat the nomination? I'll tell you, this isn't going to do a thing. It's kabuki theater, as Michelle Malkin always points out. But whatever it is, it's despicable.

On Twitter and YouTube:




Monday, September 3, 2018

Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearings

Confirmation hearings begin tomorrow.

I've been seeing a lot of tweets on Kavanaugh, especially from that crazy leftist wench Lauren Duca.

Here's some stuff online:


Emily Chang, Brotopia

At Amazon, Emily Chang, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley.



Kelly Brook 2019 Calendar

At the Sun U.K., "KEL'S ANGEL: Topless Kelly Brook has a cheeky glance over her shoulder in exclusive snaps from her 2019 calendar. The Brit model, 38, covered her boobs as she showed off her sand-covered floral bikini bottoms in a sexy pose."


Plus, flashback to 2013: "Phenomenal New Kelly Brook Sunbathing Pics From Cancun."


Twitter Struggles to Police Bad Actors

If there were a decent alternative I'd use it.

But that alternative is not Gab.ai, which is the home to white supremacists mostly (AFAICT).

Twitter is so bad, though, I doubt it can continue to grow and maintain viability. It's too partisan and hideously biased against conservatives.

It's a joke frankly.

But like I said, it's the place for politics on social media until a genuine alternative emerges.

At WSJ, "Inside Twitter’s Long, Slow Struggle to Police Bad Actors":


When Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Jack Dorsey testifies before Congress this week, he’ll likely be asked about an issue that has been hovering over the company: Just who decides whether a user gets kicked off the site?

To some Twitter users—and even some employees—it is a mystery.

In policing content on the site and punishing bad actors, Twitter relies primarily on its users to report abuses and has a consistent set of policies so that decisions aren’t made by just one person, its executives say.

Yet, in some cases, Mr. Dorsey has weighed in on content decisions at the last minute or after they were made, sometimes resulting in changes and frustrating other executives and employees, according to people familiar with the matter.

Understanding Mr. Dorsey’s role in making content decisions is crucial, as Twitter tries to become more transparent to its 335 million users, as well as lawmakers about how it polices toxic content on its site.

In a hearing Wednesday morning before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Dorsey will appear alongside Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to discuss how foreign actors can use the social-media platforms to spread misinformation and propaganda. Later in the day, the House Commerce Committee will question Mr. Dorsey individually in a Republican-led look at how Twitter treats conservative voices.

The latter hearing “is about pulling back the curtain on Twitter’s algorithms, how the company makes decisions about content, and how those decisions impact Americans,” said Rep. Greg Walden (R., Ore.), the chairman of the House Commerce Committee.

Twitter and rival Facebook are increasingly caught in a Catch-22 situation—criticized by some users for allowing hateful posts, but blasted by others for removing content because it curtails free speech.

Twitter has taken a different approach than Facebook, which has hired thousands of content reviewers in the last couple of years to review posts and built out technology to flag inappropriate content. Twitter has far less staff and typically only investigates harassment and abuse that has been reported by users.

Last month, after Twitter’s controversial decision to allow far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to remain on its platform, Mr. Dorsey told one person that he had overruled a decision by his staff to kick Mr. Jones off, according to a person familiar with the discussion. Twitter disputes that account and says Mr. Dorsey wasn’t involved in those discussions.

Twitter’s initial inaction on Mr. Jones, after several other major tech companies banned or limited his content, drew fierce backlash from the public and Twitter’s own employees, some of whom tweeted in protest.

A similar chain of events unfolded in November 2016, when the firm’s trust and safety team kicked alt-right provocateur Richard Spencer off the platform, saying he was operating too many accounts. Mr. Dorsey, who wasn’t involved in the initial discussions, told his team that Mr. Spencer should be allowed to keep one account and stay on the site, according to a person directly involved in the discussions.

Twitter says Mr. Dorsey doesn’t overrule staffers on content issues. The company declined to make Mr. Dorsey available...
Keep reading.


Progress on New Inglewood Stadium (VIDEO)

It's the future home of the Rams and Chargers.

At LAT, "Rams tour Inglewood Stadium site and like what they see as progress continues."



Alexis Ren Feels Like a Diva (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:



Some Girl and Her Hot Body

At Entensity, "Naked Girl and her Hot Body…"

Hat Tip: Drunken Stepfather, "MORNING HANGOVER DUMP OF THE DAY."

Angie Harmon, 46, Flaunts Fabulous Figure in String Bikini During Beach Vacation

From just last month.

She's got the body of a teenager, dang.

At Women's Health, "Angie Harmon Just Celebrated Her 46th Birthday With an Insane Bikini Abs Pic."

And at People:


Germany is 'Unsettled' by Islamic 'Refugees'

Change is a coming.

Change to Germany. Change for the better, and it's about time.

Sheesh.

At Poltico E.U., "German far right fuels Muslim ‘takeover’ fears: A series of violent crimes committed by refugees is unsettling the nation":


BERLIN — Can Germany survive Islam?

That question is once again at the center of the country’s public discourse amid the violent protests that followed last week’s brutal killing of a German man, allegedly at the hands of two Muslim refugees, and the publication of a new book titled “Hostile Takeover, how Islam halts progress and threatens society.”

On Saturday, about 11,000 people (8,000 right-wing and far-right protesters and about 3,000 anti-Nazis, according to police estimates) took to the streets of the eastern German city of Chemnitz, where the killing occurred. Eighteen people were injured, including a TV reporter who was thrown down a flight of stairs.

There’s nothing new about such clashes, or even the debate over Islam. What the past week reveals, however, is the degree to which the refugee influx since 2015 continues to dominate the country’s politics and fuel support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The pictures of marauding neo-Nazis in Chemnitz suggest the German government has largely failed to keep the violent extreme right in check, despite decades of trying.

By all rights, Germany should be celebrating a golden era. Unemployment is the lowest it’s been since reunification amid robust economic growth. The country’s public debt is on course to fall below 60 percent of gross domestic product this year, meaning Berlin will fulfill the Maastricht criteria for the first time in almost 20 years.

Despite Germany’s growing prosperity, its society is seething as the negative consequences of taking in more than 1 million asylum seekers since 2015 sink in. “Who should be allowed in?” asked Der Spiegel on its cover last week. This week’s cover, devoted to Saxony, the state where the violence occurred, reads: “When the right grabs power.”

Thilo Sarrazin, the former Bundesbank official and provocateur who wrote “Hostile Takeover,” has tapped into Germany’s unease about the refugee influx with a dystopian prediction of what lies ahead...
Keep reading.

U.S. Officials Cracking Down on Illegal Immigrants Using Fake Documents to Secure Legal Status

The U.S. is seizing documents of so-called "citizens" along the U.S.-Mexico border. It turns out that loads of illegals are claiming dual citizenship --- citizenship in Mexico, where they were born, and citizenship in the U.S. --- where they're using fraudulent papers to scam U.S. taxpayers and help Democrats win office.

The Other McCain has the story, "Fake News, Real Hate":

When President Trump attacks the liberal media as “fake news,” this is treated by the media as a threat to freedom of the press. However, it is the press itself which, by its deliberately one-sided partisan approach to news, is destroying its own credibility. The transparent biases of the media — e.g., CNN’s role as the “Clinton News Network” in 2016 — are not merely harmful to their own journalistic integrity; they are a threat to democracy itself. “Fake news” is bad for America.

Consider the case of a Washington Post article about efforts by U.S. immigration officials to prevent illegal entry into the country by those using fraudulent documents. This article by Kevin Sieff claims that “U.S. citizens are increasingly being swept up by immigration enforcement agencies.” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert denounced the Post article as “dishonest,” and declared: “This is an irresponsible attempt to create division and stoke fear among American citizens while attempting to inflame tensions over immigration.”

The central claim of Sieff’s article — that there is a “surging” number of people being denied U.S. passports as part of a Trump administration “crackdown” — is false. According to State Department figures, the approval rate for passport applications involving disputed birth certificates has actually increased, from 64.1% in 2014 to 74.2% so far in 2018. Obviously, passport denials cannot be “surging,” if the approval rate is increasing; Seiff’s article is therefore “fake news” — partisan propaganda, an anti-Trump hit job disguised as journalism.

Sieff constructed a textbook example of fraudulent “reporting.” For example, he treats as authoritative the claims of two immigration lawyers in Texas, one of whom says that cases of denied passports are “skyrocketing,” and another who asserts that he is aware of “probably 20 people” who are U.S. citizens that have been sent to “detention centers” by the Trump administration. These anecdotal claims were accepted as fact by Sieff, who nevertheless was unable to identify even one such case by name, so it is impossible to verify if any such cases actually exist.

What is the truth? State Department spokeswoman Nauert explained...
Keep reading.


Expect Big Economic Lift-Off from President Trump's 'Space Force' (VIDEO)

Hey, leftists even like Trump's plan for a "space force."

And while we're at it, perhaps we could launch a few members of the anti-Trump "resistance" into outer space. They'd be good target practice for the all-American intergalactic Air Force, lol.




At LAT, "Trump's 'space force' could propel Southern California's aerospace industry":
One of the big winners from President Trump’s push for a new military service called “space force” may be one of his least favorite places — California.

Once the launchpad of the nation’s aerospace industry, Southern California stands to see a surge in government and industry jobs and billions of dollars in contracts for satellites and other technology if Congress approves the space force when it takes up the proposal next year, industry experts and former military officials said.

“You can’t just go out in the middle of Iowa and try to create a center for space,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), a retired Air Force officer. “So Southern California is very well situated” to get substantial benefits.

The extent of the benefits would depend on where the headquarters is located, how much is spent on new satellites and other space systems, and how many people and programs now in the Air Force and other existing armed services might be shifted to the new force.

Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis said Tuesday that planners have just begun preparing cost estimates. “We’ve already commenced the effort, but I don’t want to give you an off-the-cuff number,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon.

The biggest uncertainty is whether Trump or Congress would try to direct the rewards to other states. The president has visited California only once since taking office, and his administration has warred with Sacramento on fuel efficiency standards, clean air regulations, firefighting techniques and more.

“Southern California remains the largest concentration of space technology, including military space technology, in the United States,” said Loren Thompson, aerospace analyst with the Lexington Institute think tank, which receives money from major industry players, including Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.

“But when you set up a new military service, you increase the impact of politics in ways that might not necessarily be good for California,” he added.

Colorado and Florida, which also boast extensive civilian and military aerospace facilities, could be big winners too.

The White House says it will unveil its plan for a space force early next year. For now, the Pentagon is taking interim steps, including creation of a Space Command in the Air Force to centralize planning for war fighting in space.

Congressional approval of Trump’s idea for a futuristic armed force for space is by no means certain. Key lawmakers, some Pentagon officials and senior commanders, especially in the Air Force, fear losing responsibility and budgetary authority for space...
More.

Jennifer Delacruz's Labor Day Forecast

Enjoy your holiday everybody. It's going to be glorious today.

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



Meghan McCain's Sneering Contempt

That was my first reaction when I saw this brief video, and my goodness the look on her face is shocking. She's an angry old woman (as someone snarked on Twitter at the time), and she's not even old yet. Bitter and angry.


Sunday, September 2, 2018

Lila Rose on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' (VIDEO)

She's the sweetest lady.



Selena Zito Under Attack

This is American politics encapsulated.

When you don't like the findings or conclusions, destroy the messenger. And that's what leftists are trying to do to Salena Zito.

This HuffPost hit piece, from scuzzy young leftist (who can't shine Salena's shoes), embeds the anonymous troll twitter attack that got this whole thing going. Ms. Salena was on Face the Nation today and was able respond.


The 'Diversity' Racket at UCLA

At great piece, from Heather Mac Donald, at the Los Angeles Times (surprisingly), "UCLA's infatuation with diversity is a costly diversion from its true mission":


If Albert Einstein applied for a professorship at UCLA today, would he be hired? The answer is not clear. Starting this fall, all faculty applicants to UCLA must document their contributions to “equity, diversity and inclusion.” (Next year, existing UCLA faculty will also have to submit an “equity, diversity and inclusion statement” in order to be considered for promotion, following the lead of five other UC campuses.) The mandatory statements will be credited in the same manner as the rest of an applicant’s portfolio, according to UCLA’s equity, diversity and inclusion office.

A contemporary Einstein may not meet the suggested evaluation criteria. Would his “job talk” — a presentation of one’s scholarly accomplishments — reflect his contributions to equity, diversity and inclusion? Unlikely. Would his research show, in the words of the evaluation template, the “potential to understand the barriers facing women and racial/ethnic minorities?” Also unlikely. Would he have participated in “service that applies up-to-date knowledge to problems, issues and concerns of groups historically underrepresented in higher education?” Sadly, he may have been focusing on the theory of general relativity instead. What about “utilizing pedagogies addressing different learning styles” or demonstrating the ability to “effectively teach and attract students from underrepresented communities”? Again, not at all guaranteed.

As the new mandate suggests, UCLA and the rest of the University of California have been engulfed by the diversity obsession. The campuses are infatuated with group identity and difference. Science and the empirical method, however, transcend just those trivialities of identity that UC now deems so crucial: “race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity and socioeconomic status,” to quote from the university’s Diversity Statement. The results of that transcendence speak for themselves: an astounding conquest of disease and an ever-increasing understanding of the physical environment. Unlocking the secrets of nature is challenge enough; scientists (and other faculty) should not also be tasked with a “social justice” mission.

But such a confusion of realms currently pervades American universities, and UC in particular. UCLA’s Intergroup Relations Office offers credit courses and “co-curricular dialogues” that encourage students to, you guessed it, “explore their own social identities (i.e. gender, race, nationality, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation, social class, etc.) and associated positions within the campus community.” Even if exploring your social identity were the purpose of a college education (which it is not), it would be more fruitful to define that identity around accomplishments and intellectual passions — “budding mathematician,” say, or “history fanatic” — rather than gender and race.

Intergroup Relations is just the tip of the bureaucratic diversity iceberg. In 2015, UCLA created a vice chancellorship for equity, diversity and inclusion, funded at $4.3 million, according to figures published by the Millennial Review in 2017. (The EDI vice chancellor’s office did not have its current budget “at the ready,” a UCLA spokesman said, nor did Intergroup Relations.) Over the last two years, according to the Sacramento Bee’s state salary database, the diversity vice chancellor’s total pay, including benefits, has averaged $414,000, more than four times many faculty salaries. Besides his own staff, the vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion presides over the Discrimination Prevention Office; BruinX, the “research and development arm of EDI”; faculty “equity advisors”; UCLA’s Title IX office; and a student advisory board. Various schools at UCLA, including medicine and dentistry, have their own diversity deans, whose job includes making sure that the faculty avoid “implicit bias in the hiring process,” in the words of the engineering school’s diversity dean.

These bureaucratic sinecures are premised on the idea that UCLA is rife with discrimination, from which an ever-growing number of victim groups need protection...
 Keep reading.


Time for Truth

From VDH, at RCP, "The Truth Will Set Us All Free."


Saturday, September 1, 2018

Ariana Grande 'Groped' at Aretha Franklin Memorial

It does look like this "bishop" grabbed a little tittie there.

At the BBC:


Also, at the Sun U.K., "OOOH ARI! Ariana Grande goes topless in nothing but body paint for cover of new single God Is A Woman: The pop star shed her clothes for a sexy new shoot to promote her new music."

Jean-Francois Revel, How Democracies Perish

*BUMPED.*

A classic book, with lessons for the current era.

Inexpensive used copies available at Amazon, Jean-Francois Revel, How Democracies Perish.


Alyson Michalka Playing Miniature Golf

At Taxi Driver, "Aly Michalka Mini Golfing."

Sasha Polakow-Suransky, Go Back to Where You Came From

I'm posting this FWIW, because I fear that leftists and center-leftists continue to "not get it" about the rise of populist nationalism.

At Amazon, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, Go Back to Where You Came From: The Backlash Against Immigration and the Fate of Western Democracy.



'Social media, metrics, bad faith readers, columnists, instant and bad takes, blogosphere nostalgia, and online abuse have created an op-ed internet culture...'

At n + 1, "The New Reading Environment":


Since Donald Trump’s election, new prominence has been given to an otherwise deranged and degraded form: the op-ed. The Times op-ed page — along with its basic best friend, the Washington Post op-ed page, and its evil, basement-dwelling older brother, the Wall Street Journal op-ed page — should have gone the way of the classifieds section. Instead it exerts a malevolent gravitational pull, delivering with punishing regularity an endless stream of annoying and offensive provocations.

The irony of the op-ed’s depressing reemergence is that everything is an op-ed now. The op-edization of all writing should have rendered its traditional purveyors redundant. Why read a Times columnist when you can read the same opinion delivered with more style and energy almost anywhere else? But even as internet writers refine and defend and reiterate their opinions — an archipelago of converging takes — so-called traditional outlets have consolidated their influence...
RTWT.