Watch for the Left to Become Even More Ruthless

Following-up, "American Radicals and the Change We Could Believe In."

I saw this long series of tweets, many with long individual threads, yesterday at Kurt Schlicter's. A couple of folks were linking Bryan Burrough, Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence, and suggesting that some similar "days of rage" might well be in our (near?) future.

Watch for the left to become even more ruthless toward anyone who refuses to maintain their line of absolute hostility toward our President.

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) January 14, 2017

I need to troll back through Schlicter's feed for some of the specific tweets. It seems some tweeps were even suggesting that there's current law enforcement and intelligence chatter to the effect of forthcoming political violence. But I'm not sure, so I'll come back with more if I can find it.

American Radicals and the Change We Could Believe In

As Obama's about to depart from office, there's virtually no signs that Democrats and progressives are tacking toward the center.

I spent a lot of time attending events on campus after the election, because as noted I genuinely feel for the students scared their parents will be deported. (I think folks should have information, at least so they'll understand how due process works and where to obtain legal assistance.) In one of the last ones I attending, the president of my union, with whom I've had my battles in the past, appeared positively energized by all the opportunities for radical left activism the coming Trump administration was likely to afford. And as I troll around on Twitter, especially clicking around on radical feminist feeds, etc., I'm forwarded to more and more sites and resources that throw off the same vibe. And American politics is so polarized I'm confident that unless Donald Trump has some very substantial successes, especially on the economy and jobs, he's very liable to becoming a one term president.

In any case, I read this piece at the Nation when it came out in early December, but never got around to posting it. If you check Katrina vanden Heuval's Twitter feed you'll get an idea of how febrile the radical left has become. (I'm also not discounting the possibility of political violence, but I try to put the thought of assassination out of my mind. It's just too horrifying, and I have a feeling with all the things coming down, there are some on the left who've seriously contemplated it.)

In any case, it's Eric Foner, who's now retired as a professor of history at Columbia:

Eric Foner on Obama -- American Radicals and the Change We Could Believe In via @thenation https://t.co/lPEBbzWHCL

— Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) January 11, 2017

The Great Hate-Crime Hysteria

From Eric Felten, at the Weekly Standard, "Untruth and Consequences":

Impressed with this thoughtful look at the currently raging Hate War. https://t.co/85SWU4pZyA!

— Crazy Pastor (@thecrazypastor) January 15, 2017

Scottish teenager Kate Hume was no stranger to tragedy. By the time the great European powers hurtled into war at the end of July 1914, her older brother had already been dead more than two years: Violinist John “Jock" Hume was a member of Wallace Hartley's eight-man orchestra that had played on the deck of the sinking Titanic.

Just a month and a half into the Great War she received news even more devastating.

At the office in Dumfries where she worked as a "clerkess," Kate found herself with a pair of letters. The first had the signature of her older sister, about whom the last Kate knew was that she was working as a nurse in the English town of Huddersfield. The letter read: "Dear Kate, This is to say good-bye. Have not long to live. Hospital has been set on fire. Germans cruel. .  .  . My right breast has been taken away. .  .  . Good-bye. Grace."

The first letter was explained by the other, from one of Grace's fellow nurses, a Miss Mullard. "I was with your sister when she died," the letter said, explaining they had been together at a field hospital set up near the front at Vilvorde, in Belgium. The Huns attacked and burned the hospital, according to Nurse Mullard, killing over a thousand wounded men, including through beheadings. As for the nurses, the ones the Germans captured were grotesquely violated before being murdered. Grace was among them: "She endured great agony," the letter went on, detailing that counterattacking British Tommies had "caught two German soldiers .  .  . cutting off her left breast, her right one having been already cut off."

Kate shared the letters with the press. The story caused a sensation—covered not only in local Scottish papers such as the Dumfries Standard, but in London papers including the Pall Mall Gazette, the Globe, the Westminster Gazette, the Evening Standard, and everywhere in-between. The headline in the London Star was typical: "A NURSE'S TRAGEDY: Dumfries Girl the Victim of Shocking Barbarity."

With such widespread reporting, it didn't take long for Grace Hume to learn of her own grisly death. She saw placards up at the newsstand advertising the big headline "Terrible Murder of Huddersfield Nurse." She bought the local Post and, astonished by what she read, wired her father: "Reports untrue. Safe in Huddersfield."

Kate, it turned out, had made the whole thing up.

Jump forward a century and the case of the Mutilated Nurse has a newfound relevance. For we are in a new age of hoaxes, with frequent tales of Trump-inspired atrocities that have unraveled, as did so many of the stories of atrocities committed in WWI. Understanding the propaganda of the Great War may help us understand the motives and methods of the modern propaganda in what we might call the Hate War.

The Hate War got going in earnest in the immediate aftermath of the election with a raft of reports of malicious Trumpkins taunting and attacking young Muslim women, targeting them for wearing traditional religious head-coverings.

One of the most distressing of the hijab stories was that of Yasmin Seweid, who told police she was assaulted on the New York subway by marauding Trump supporters while fellow passengers did nothing, said nothing. The perpetrators were described as three drunk white men talking about Trump. "They were surrounding me from behind and they were like, 'Oh look, it's an f-ing terrorist,' " the 18-year-old Baruch College student told a CBSNewYork reporter. They pulled at her bag, breaking the strap. She said she begged to be left alone, only to be met with a torrent of abuse: "They kept saying 'you don't belong here, get out of this country, go back to your country.' " The men grabbed at her hijab, and her fellow straphangers, she suggested, were, in their cowardice, complicit: "Everyone was looking, no one said a thing, everyone just looked away."

The police didn't look away. They combed through the subway's security video looking for the men Seweid had described. They found none. Though the case was hugely publicized, no witnesses were found. Then, with the police looking to interview her again, Seweid went AWOL. When she finally turned up, "Suspicion," the New York Daily News reported, "went through the roof." Facing continued questioning by skeptical detectives, the young woman admitted she had been lying all along. The whole thing was a fraud. She was arraigned, charged with making a false report.

(If one thinks that a trifle harsh for a bit of youthful fibbing, it's worth noting that Britain, in the midst of war with Germany, prosecuted and convicted Kate Hume for her lies.)

Seweid's was hardly the only hijab hoax...

Of course not.

In fact, I can't think of a single confirmed hate crime committed by Trump supporters against Muslims or anything other progressive demographic group.

It's been all lies. Leftist lies.

But keep reading.

Matt Ryan and the Falcons Look Nearly Unstoppable

Lindsey Thiry yesterday, in real time, as well as Sports Illustrated after the win:

This Falcons team looks absolutely unstoppable.

— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) January 15, 2017

If the Seahawks couldn't stop Matt Ryan and the Falcons, who can? (by @jjones9) https://t.co/rsBNzvQiOw pic.twitter.com/KpdZh4rMex

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 15, 2017

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."



Also, at Theo's, "Cartoon Roundup..."

Cartoon Credit: Legal Insurrection, "Branco Cartoon – Elmer Dud (CNN/BuzzFeed Fake News)."

Recent Storms Helped Southern California

But according to this piece at the O.C. Register, we're still not out of the woods, so to speak.

And check the photos and videos. I used to hang out at Hart Park. The storm channel doubles as a parking lot, when there's no winter storms, lol.

Here, "Recent rain gives glimmer of hope that drought could come to an end in California."

So, if SoCal's still in drought territory, how about Northern California? If the state's not catching enough runoff, who's to blame, man? Build more freakin' reservoirs, sheesh!

Recent rain gives glimmer of hope that the #drought could come to an end in Southern California https://t.co/JP2AHhgjM8

— Jessica Kwong (@JessicaGKwong) January 13, 2017

Rule 5 Sunday

Leading things off this morning is William Teach, at Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup."

Also, last week's entry at the Other McCain, "Rule 5 Sunday: January Jones."

More at 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Morning Mistress."

At Bro Bible, "Sizzling Viki Odintcova is Hotter Than a Snake’s Ass in a Wagon Rut (30 PICS)."

And the Chive, "Sunday is for the Triple-B: Beers, Babes and Burgers (33 Photos)."

Goodstuff's, "GOODSTUFFs BLOGGING MAGAZINE (276th Issue): Tempest Storm's Burlesque."

At Knuckledraggin', "Your Good Morning Girls."

Political Clown Parade, "Flowing Curves of Beauty."

And from Cousin Odie, "Static Electricity ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

Also, Proof Positive, "Friday Night Babe: Corinne Foxx!"

The Feral Irishman, "Friday Femme Fatale... (NSFW)."

Still more, at the Hostages, "Big Boob Friday."

Plus, at Drunken Stepfather, "STEPLINKS OF THE DAY," and "CHARLOTTE MCKINNEY IN LINGERIE OF THE DAY."

BONUS: At Maggie's Farm, "Extinct Creatures." And, from Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit, "ATLANTIC CITY CASINOS REFUSED TO GIVE PROFESSIONAL GAMBLER WHAT HE HAD WON. INSTEAD OF PAYING HIM, THEY SUED HIM: Gambler Phil Ivey Can’t Get His Millions Because Casinos Are Too Big to Fail..."

If All You See… https://t.co/5HIREXvmeH pic.twitter.com/C267D8B3Ni

— William Teach (@WilliamTeach) January 15, 2017

If You Saw Your Dog and a Stranger Both Drowning in the Ocean, Which Would You Save First?

Here's Dennis Prager:

Pity the Sad Legacy of Barack Obama

It's brother Cornel West, at the Guardian U.K., "Our hope and change candidate fell short time and time again. Obama cheerleaders who refused to make him accountable bear some responsibility":

Eight years ago the world was on the brink of a grand celebration: the inauguration of a brilliant and charismatic black president of the United States of America. Today we are on the edge of an abyss: the installation of a mendacious and cathartic white president who will replace him.

This is a depressing decline in the highest office of the most powerful empire in the history of the world. It could easily produce a pervasive cynicism and poisonous nihilism. Is there really any hope for truth and justice in this decadent time? Does America even have the capacity to be honest about itself and come to terms with its self-destructive addiction to money-worship and cowardly xenophobia?

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Herman Melville – the two great public intellectuals of 19th-century America – wrestled with similar questions and reached the same conclusion as Heraclitus: character is destiny (“sow a character and you reap a destiny”).

The age of Barack Obama may have been our last chance to break from our neoliberal soulcraft. We are rooted in market-driven brands that shun integrity and profit-driven policies that trump public goods. Our “post-integrity” and “post-truth” world is suffocated by entertaining brands and money-making activities that have little or nothing to do with truth, integrity or the long-term survival of the planet. We are witnessing the postmodern version of the full-scale gangsterization of the world.

The reign of Obama did not produce the nightmare of Donald Trump – but it did contribute to it. And those Obama cheerleaders who refused to make him accountable bear some responsibility.

A few of us begged and pleaded with Obama to break with the Wall Street priorities and bail out Main Street. But he followed the advice of his “smart” neoliberal advisers to bail out Wall Street. In March 2009, Obama met with Wall Street leaders. He proclaimed: I stand between you and the pitchforks. I am on your side and I will protect you, he promised them. And not one Wall Street criminal executive went to jail.

We called for the accountability of US torturers of innocent Muslims and the transparency of US drone strikes killing innocent civilians. Obama’s administration told us no civilians had been killed. And then we were told a few had been killed. And then told maybe 65 or so had been killed. Yet when an American civilian, Warren Weinstein, was killed in 2015 there was an immediate press conference with deep apologies and financial compensation. And today we still don’t know how many have had their lives taken away.

We hit the streets again with Black Lives Matter and other groups and went to jail for protesting against police killing black youth. We protested when the Israeli Defense Forces killed more than 2,000 Palestinians (including 550 children) in 50 days. Yet Obama replied with words about the difficult plight of police officers, department investigations (with no police going to jail) and the additional $225m in financial support of the Israeli army. Obama said not a mumbling word about the dead Palestinian children but he did call Baltimore black youth “criminals and thugs”.

In addition, Obama’s education policy unleashed more market forces that closed hundreds of public schools for charter ones. The top 1% got nearly two-thirds of the income growth in eight years even as child poverty, especially black child poverty, remained astronomical. Labor insurgencies in Wisconsin, Seattle and Chicago (vigorously opposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a close confidant of Obama) were passed over in silence.

In 2009, Obama called New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg an “outstanding mayor”. Yet he overlooked the fact that more than 4 million people were stopped-and-frisked under Bloomberg’s watch. Along with Carl Dix and others, I sat in a jail two years later for protesting these very same policies that Obama ignored when praising Bloomberg.

Yet the mainstream media and academia failed to highlight these painful truths linked to Obama. Instead, most well-paid pundits on TV and radio celebrated the Obama brand. And most black spokespeople shamelessly defended Obama’s silences and crimes in the name of racial symbolism and their own careerism. How hypocritical to see them now speak truth to white power when most went mute in the face of black power. Their moral authority is weak and their newfound militancy is shallow.

More.

PHOTO: That's me and brother Cornel, at Long Beach City College, October 21, 2016.

Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner Model of the Year Awards (VIDEO)

At Harper's:

It's the 'Glammy Gay Package'

Robin Abcarian tweets.

And her L.A. Times story here, "Breitbart provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos is shouted down at UC Davis but gets the last word."

Milo, in Gucci accesories & gold lame backpack, with roses. He returns to @UCDavis after protesters shut down his appearance last night. pic.twitter.com/RYduwTmzvo

— Robin Abcarian (@AbcarianLAT) January 15, 2017

Having now heard him speak, I can say w/authority, Milo has nothing new to say about campuses & PC. It's all cliches in a glammy gay package

— Robin Abcarian (@AbcarianLAT) January 15, 2017

Trump Open to Shift on Russia Sanctions, 'One China' Policy

At WSJ:

Trump suggests in WSJ interview he'd be open to lifting Russia sanctions and isn't committed to "One China" policy https://t.co/B1XXF7ONEF

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 14, 2017

NEW YORK—President-elect Donald Trump suggested he would be open to lifting sanctions on Russia and wasn’t committed to a longstanding agreement with China over Taiwan—two signs that he would use any available leverage to realign the U.S.’s relationship with its two biggest global strategic rivals.

In an hourlong interview, Mr. Trump said that, “at least for a period of time,” he would keep intact sanctions against Russia imposed by the Obama administration in late December in response to Moscow’s alleged cyberattacks to influence November’s election. But he suggested he might do away with those penalties if Russia proved helpful in battling terrorists and reaching other goals important to the U.S.

“If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?” he said.

He also said he wouldn’t commit to America’s agreement with China that Taiwan wasn’t to be recognized diplomatically, a policy known as “One China,” until he saw what he considered progress from Beijing in its currency and trade practices.

The desire to change relations with Moscow in particular has been a goal of American presidents since tensions began rising under President Vladimir Putin’s leadership. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought the same goal early in the Obama administration, as did President George W. Bush, who met Mr. Putin early in his first term.

But Mr. Trump’s diplomatic efforts will have to compete with those in Congress, including many Republicans, who want to see the administration take a tough line with Russia after U.S. intelligence concluded that the government of Mr. Putin sought to influence the November presidential election with a campaign of cyberhacking.

Additionally, an unsubstantiated dossier of political opposition research suggesting ties between Mr. Trump and Russia was published this past week—drawing condemnation from Mr. Trump and his team but keeping Russian espionage in the spotlight. The allegations haven’t been validated by the U.S. intelligence agencies.

Mr. Trump in the interview suggested he might do away with the Obama administration’s Russian sanctions, and he said he is prepared to meet with Mr. Putin some time after he is sworn in.

“I understand that they would like to meet, and that’s absolutely fine with me,” he said.

Asked if he supported the One China policy on Taiwan, Mr. Trump said: “Everything is under negotiation including One China.”

China has considered Taiwan a breakaway province since Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists set up a government there in 1949, after years of civil war. Washington’s agreement to rescind diplomatic recognition of the government in Taiwan and uphold a One China policy was a precondition for the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between U.S. and China in 1979. Any suggestion in the past that the U.S. may change its stance has been met with alarm in Beijing.

On Saturday, a statement posted on the Chinese foreign ministry’s website said, “There is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.”

It added, “we urge relevant parties in the U.S. to fully recognize the high sensitivity of the Taiwan question, approach Taiwan-related issues with prudence and honor the commitment made by all previous U.S. administrations.”

Though he has long been critical of China, Mr. Trump on Friday also made a point of showing a holiday greeting card he received from China’s leader, Xi Jinping...

More.

The My Pillow Success Story

I know I've joked about it before, but this dude's a darned ringer for political scientist Larry Sabato, dang!

At Business Week:

The preposterous success story of the creator of MyPillow https://t.co/9pI7e4VysI pic.twitter.com/fnUnruzBMR

— Businessweek (@BW) January 12, 2017

Why the Left Hates Donald Trump So Intensely

From Thomas Lifson, at American Thinker (via Maggie's Farm):

@MrTommyCampbell @JordanUhl @BarackObama pic.twitter.com/My9UDIidYJ

— Trump dog! (@charliek478) January 15, 2017

The intensity of the hatred for a newly elected president faced by Donald Trump is equaled only by the reaction of the Confederacy to the election of Abraham Lincoln.  That ended up in civil war, a precedent that one hopes will not be equaled.  But there has been a remarkable fury at people who do not shun Trump: boycotts of a company whose shareholder contributed to a PAC supporting  Trump; attempts to pressure the president of a historically black college to prevent its marching band from performing at the inaugural; and hateful rhetoric at Hollywood awards ceremonies.  With much more to come.

A useful perspective is to regard this as a religious conflict.  Cults behave exactly the way the left is behaving when a member leaves the fold.  And remember that Donald Trump used to be a member in good standing of the Democrat cultural machine.  He even had a show on NBC, a mainstay of the left, in addition to being a generous contributor to many Democrats...

More.

Valerie Van Der Graaf Intimates Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2017 (VIDEO)

Lovely.

Epic Ski Conditions in the Sierras (VIDEO)

This is the bright side of the storm.

The darker side is all the flooded and mudded residents trying to dig out.

At KCRA News 3 Sacramento:

Erika Canela, Brazil's 'Best Bottom' Winner, Gets Donald Trump Tattoo for Women's Rights

Totally bizarre.

At WWTDD, "Miss Bum Bum Erika Canela Gets a Trump Tattoo."

Also at the Scottish Sun U.K., "RUMPY TRUMPY: Miss Bum Bum contest winner Erika Canela has the face of DONALD TRUMP tattooed on her back in bizarre bid to improve his opinion on women and migrants - Stunning Erika Canela also admitted that she finds the 70-year-old President-elect 'strangely attractive'."

Stunning Erika Canela also admitted that she finds Donald Trump 'strangely attractive'
https://t.co/y0lYMWlHGp

— The Scottish Sun (@ScottishSun) January 13, 2017

BONUS: "Miss Bum Bum 2016 finalists strip topless to prove they're not just packing booty."

Well, she's definitely got the best buns.

Cody Wilson, Come and Take It

*BUMPED*

My winter break's about half over now, so I don't know when I'll be able to get to this book, but it looks awesome.

The dude's known as a "crypto-anarchist," heh.

At Amazon, Cody Wilson, Come and Take It: The Gun Printer’s Guide to Thinking Free.

Pippa Bacca

I did not know this, but it's true. At Wiki:

Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo (9 December 1974 – 31 March 2008), known as Pippa Bacca, was an Italian artist who, together with a fellow artist, was hitchhiking from Milan to the Middle East to promote world peace, symbolically wearing a wedding dress during her trek. Arriving in Gebze, Turkey on 31 March 2008, she went missing. Her raped body was discovered in the same city on 11 April. The police arrested a man who had placed his SIM card into Bacca's mobile phone and he later led them to her body.

Via Jenna Jameson:

Killed in turkey.... such a shame pic.twitter.com/roM1fuPaU8

— Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) January 3, 2017

Bwahaha! Congressman John Lewis Looks Exactly Like Crying Baby Mask!

This is great.

Following-up, "Donald Trump Blasts John Lewis."

Seen just now on Twitter, via Andrew Arlink:

@AndrewArlink @RaymondSmith54 @youlivethrice @repjohnlewis Is it just me or does rep Lewis look exactly like the crying baby mask? pic.twitter.com/ggQOQtUUsx

— Wyatt G (@WyattGoodtimes) January 14, 2017