GOOD QUESTION: Where are the mavericks in the Democrat Party?

Cowering under the bed, I suspect.

NOW THAT'S PUNCHING BACK: Resistance jackass who grabbed teen’s MAGA hat and threw a drink in his face indicted.

GET WOKE, GO BROKE: ESPN's disastrous decision to pander to the SJWs.

Dick's Sporting Goods isn't doing too well, either.

It seems that kowtowing to the culture warriors is not a winning business strategy. I wonder if they'll figure that out....

THE ECONOMY - THEN AND NOW:

Linked from here.

YES, LET'S 'MONKEY UP':

Yesterday a firestorm erupted when Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis said during an interview on Fox News, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state."

Here's a long list of top Democrats 'monkeying around'.

Keep firmly in mind that the only ones who can hear dog whistles are ... dogs.

PETA FREED THE ANIMAL CRACKERS ... What's next?

It was a rhetorical question, but still, I shouldn't have asked. Here's Vox.com: "The new Nabisco animal crackers art doesn’t address any of the underlying issues about ethics, exploitation, and corporate greed."

Keep mocking them.

SCORE ONE FOR CHINA: China is treating Islam like a mental illness.

Harsh ... but necessary?

TAMMY BRUCE: Too much of Trump's time is spent cleaning up Obama's and the Democrats' deadly messes.

It's just that there's so much to clean up....

SHAREHOLDERS HARDEST HIT: Dick's Sporting Goods caves to anti-NRA activists who don't shop there.

AMERICA'S PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM is the ultimate deep state.

Analysis: true.

MALLARD FILLMORE gets it right.

THE LATEST AWFUL THING: Global warming denial helped cause Aretha Franklin's death.

DENNIS PRAGER explains the Left. The difference between the Left and the progressive Left is that the progressive Left is upfront with their bigotry.

Explaining the Left Part I is here.

LOCKHEED MARTIN unveils spacecraft 'RV' for human trips to Mars.

CONSPIRACIES IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE? A privatized version of the Obama Administration’s “Operation Choke Point.”

PULLING CLEARANCES IS ONLY A START: It's time to stamp out this elite privilege.

LET THAT SINK IN: America wasn’t great when women “couldn’t vote” or “get a credit card” without their husbands.

Marie Harf needs to read a history (herstory?) book. Or three.

I THINK they've done that already.

NEWT GINGRICH: Democrats have no idea what demons they are unleashing.

But they will. Oh, how they will....

BUT THEY'RE NOT OUTSOURCING CONTROL: How the Left is outsourcing censorship of the internet.

SO SOCIALISM is a sexually transmitted disease?

That has to be inadvertent, but it is soooo on-point.

I can visualize the tagline: 'Prevent progressivism; use a condom'.

VIA TWITCHY on the Mollie Tibbitt murder:

Where's the Time Magazine cover for this family separation?

WTF, Associated Press? Your take on Mollie Tibbetts murder is absolutely ghastly.

FIVE REASONS government can't work the way socialists believe it must:

(1) Unintended consequences abound.

Socialists live in a fantasy world where there are no unintended consequences. The unintended consequence is that they're completely unprepared when they show up - and they do

(2) Paradoxically, the more powerful government gets, the more susceptible it becomes to outside influences.

It's usually called graft and corruption. At which socialists excel.

(3) Government does almost nothing well.

True statement. 'Competent government is an oxymoron.

(4) Government just doesn’t care about your life as much as you do.

See (5) below.

(5) It goes against human nature.

Granted, humans are tribal, but the basic tribal unit is me and those I'm responsible for. No one knows me better than I do.

Capitalism works because capitalists invest in controlling themselves for their economic wellbeing; socialism doesn't work because socialists invest in controlling others.

‘STUPID BULLSHIT’: Their appraisal is spot-on.

FARMERS' ALMANAC: Winter will be 'teeth-chattering' cold with plenty of snow. Judging from the early signs in my neck of the woods, I believe it. I expect to be starting my annual 'Autumn Leaves' photo series in the next two weeks.

RUNNING FOR OFFICE so she can close more coffee shops.

No wonder she's running for Congress; her application for employment as a Starbucks barista must have been rejected....

SURVEY FINDS Black business ownership in the U.S. jumped 400% in one year. And who has been President?

According to an update, the 400% increase can't be corroborated, but the consensus seems to be that an improved economy and regulatory relief have been major factors.

OCASIO-CORTEZ LAMENTS DINER THAT CLOSED … partly due to policy she promotes.

It's even funnier when you remember she's an economics major (from Boston University).

DNC GOES GENDER-NEUTRAL, demands equal number of men and women on committees. How can they be gender neutral when they limit membership to only men and women?

OHIO STUDENTS asked which victim group they’d vote off a spaceship fleeing a dying Earth.

That's easy - progressives.

UNFORTUNATELY, true.

AS THINGS GO NOW, ONLY FROM A CEMETERY: Would you ever vote for a Democrat?

SARAH PALIN, loyal running mate, excluded from John McCain’s funeral. I think this tells you more than you want to know about Sen. McCain's fundamental character.

Allahpundit at Hot Air has similar thoughts.

POWERLINE: Green weenie grilled, served with Old Bay. The comments are hilarious, too.

HE STARTED TELLING THE TRUTH: Candace Owens says Trump is 'killing political correctness'. And it's working.

IT'S A SYMPTOM, NOT THE DISEASE: Given all the suffering it has caused, is socialism a hate crime?

I THINK IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING: It's time for a conservative purge.

HERMAN CAIN has not lost his sense of humor.

JOHN MCCAIN has died.

HORRIFIED PROGRESSIVE suddenly realizes Mike Pence next in line for presidency.

Yes, it's satire (I think).

ABNORMAL. NEXT QUESTION. Was the pre-Trump world normal or abnormal?

CABRINI-GREEN: Public housing’s most notorious failure. Long, serious article. And I remember the media buzz when it was finally demolished.

HMMM: Iran's 100% indigenously made fighter aircraft makes its debut.

And it looks suspiciously like a Northrop T-38 Talon, which first flew in 1959. And was manufactured as a training aircraft, not a first-line fighter.

PLEASE, PLEASE, GO FOR IT: If Democrats embrace socialism to get away from Donald Trump, they can kiss the midterms goodbye.

THE DEMOCRATS have gone batshit crazy.

THE CITY'S UNOFFICIAL MOTTO is 'Keep Austin Weird', so why not rename the city Weird? It has the added benefit of accurately describing its residents.

Full disclosure: I'm a (long) former resident of Austin Weird.

I PITY THE TREES: More 'ecosexual' professors are having sex with trees.

The comments are a hoot.

JOHN CORREIA on armed self defense. Watch the video.

YOU MAY RECALL that former President Obama has a deal with Netflix to produce original content in the form of "scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features." The Washington Free Beacon has exclusively obtained a partial transcript of the first episode.

Yes, it is satire. I think.

MEDIA'S BIGGEST KAVANAUGH MISSES: Aspiring hit pieces on Supreme Court pick draw mockery. Best comment mockery: "Soon they will pull out the big gun. Has anyone see his honor leave a restroom without washing his hands?"

IF YOU'RE THINKING of voting for Kamala Harris for President in 2020, check out her home town. Then think again.

AMERICA REACTS to Gov. Cuomo.

STEVEN HAYWARD: Don't pull that trigger (warning).

Short summary: If you favor trigger warnings, you have mental health issues, suffer from low self esteem, and are easily led; i.e. you're a progressive.

JOHN BRENNAN is either incompetent or a liar - and probably both. Thug is taken for granted.

THE MEME SO BLATANTLY STUPID, I’m surprised it doesn’t break the internet.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES has been posted. Here's the obvious choice for favorite:

Mock them. Mercilessly.

RANDOM THOUGHT: When I was a child growing up we played cowboys and indians; today's 'adult' children (call them 'progressives') play thugs and vandals.

IF I WERE STILL A COLLEGE PROFESSOR, there would be one less.

WHO DO THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE? Ammo Grrrll on dreadful audiences:

One of these dreadful shows was for a national convention in Minneapolis of on-camera “talent” from cable stations all over this great land. A more rude, arrogant, self-absorbed, group of people could not be assembled than that roomful of thin, pretty, vacant-eyed Teleprompter readers of both genders. All sporting good hair and capped white teeth. Not a single fattie or Helen Thomas gargoyle in the bunch.

The nightmare began with the terrible, impotent emcee trying to get the superstars to sit down and shut up. This was a thankless task, because THEY were so very important. THEY were the pretty and interesting ones in the room. Who were those nobodies standing in the wings with the temerity to believe they could entertain them?

So sensing the lack of respect for the upcoming entertainment, did the emcee, one of their members, try to defuse that by reading our prepared introductions listing our credentials? No, of course not. He LITERALLY introduced us “Okay now, calm down people. The local organizing committee for some reason has hired these two comics who nobody has ever heard of. Here’s the first one — .” And then he brought up my opening act, my friend, Tom, a fairly new but talented and funny young comic.

The emcee sat down and immediately set the tone by loudly chatting with his seat-mate, his back to Tom. Can you even imagine anyone you know being this rude? The whole room erupted in more talking and determined ignoring of poor Tom. I’m still appalled.

These are the same kind of people who are intolerably imperious, demanding and rude to waitresses, hotel housekeeping staff, and retail clerks. Tom doggedly did his 20 minutes and, circumventing the emcee, introduced me himself. I got a semi-decent laugh with the first joke and perhaps the first ten tables in front stopped yakking and began to laugh, but it was still really tough sledding. There were people milling about, walking in front of me, chatting in standing groups. I did my time and ended thusly:

“You people were the rudest audience I have ever played. Had you listened to Tom, you would have enjoyed him. For those few of you who listened politely to me and responded, thank you, and I’m glad you enjoyed it. For those many others who did not enjoy us, because you could not bear to shut up, lest some other human have the spotlight for even a minute – tough shit, we got your money.”

Bravo, Ammo Grrrll.

TRUMP did use the N-word.

TURNS OUT Democrats really are turning to socialism.

I blame the education cartel; millennials and younger have been 'stupidified' by liberal educrats to the point that they don't know how to live without a minder.

ANDREW CUOMO FOR DEMOCRATS 2020: "We can't make America great again."

Correct. That's why you'll lose....

UPDATE: Doug Powers agrees. "NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo coins perfect slogan for Democrat convention: America Was Never That Great."

JUST ABOLISH THE WHOLE DAMNED AGENCY: Taming the EPA regulatory hydra.

THINK IT THROUGH: ‘In Trump World everyone lies’ according to Omarosa, former longtime inhabitant of Trump World.

Projection, projection, projection....

A REAL JOURNALIST reflects on his profession’s anti-Trump collusion.

WHY DO LIBERALS keep hurting themselves? If they only hurt themselves, I would be fine with it. The problem is that they're hurting me. I'm not fine with that.

PRESIDENT TRUMP revokes John Brennan's security clearance. Brennan: "My principles are worth far more than clearances."

Trump: "My clearances are worth more than your principles."

Trump is right. Security clearances should go with the job, not the person. When you leave government employment, your clearance should be revoked. For all former government employees, as they are with contractors.

MORE JOURNALISM GROUPTHINK: It's only propaganda if you do it (second item).

CELEBRITY PRIVILEGE: It's for real.

It's also idiocy.

WHEN A MEDIA COMPETITOR (CNN) gets a bunch of companies to take down its competitor, and they do, is that a conspiracy in restraint of trade?

More from Doug Powers.

THEY HAVE MORALS? The Left claims the moral high ground.

They keep using that word. I don't think that word means what they think it means.

DON SURBER: Antifa is the fascist arm of the Democratic Party.

MAY? MAY? The monolithic media may be biased!

SIXTY SEPARATE DEFAMATION LAWSUITS against the SPLC under consideration.

The real hate group is the Southern Poverty Law Center....

IOWAHAWK wins the internet with this tweet.

WE ALL KNOW that Democrats are socialists deep down in their hearts, and it is nice to see solid new survey evidence for this.

I blame the education cartel.

LGBTWHATEVER ALLIANCE FRACTURING? World renowned lesbian NYU professor suspended after probe finds she(?) sexually harassed gay male student.

Heh. More here.

HYPOCRISY, thy name is True Conservatism™.

ABOUT TIME: The FBI (finally) fires Peter Strzok.

TAXES, THE LAFFER CURVE and government revenue.

The purpose of government is not to squeeze the largest possible amount out of its citizens. The purpose of government is to carry out its legitimate functions as efficiently as possible, so as to enable the lowest reasonable tax rates. If those rates result in more revenue, as Milton Friedman once said, that means you haven’t cut them enough.

I like Milton Friedman.

MSM 'JOURNALISTS' are hypocrites.

Much more media hypocrisy here.

FIREFIGHTING INMATES put lie to occupational regulations.

If I were forced to choose between lower taxes and fewer regulations, it would be a no-brainer to choose fewer regulations. Lower taxes would follow as night follows day.

BABYLON BEE: Media disappointed only 30 White Nationalists showed up at event they hyped.

Satire? Or real news? You decide.

SAVE MONEY AND EASE THE REGULATORY BURDEN: Short live the legislature.

MOCK THEM. If you have photoshop skills, here's your chance.

NATIONAL REVIEW: America has a PhD surplus.

Agreed. Even in STEM-related fields, a PhD is overrated (for the record, I have a PhD in electrical engineering). A Bachelor's degree is (almost) mandatory; a Master's degree is a positive good; a doctorate isn't worthless, but the return on investment is at best break-even. Go for it if you want, but don't expect to make money on the investment (I didn't.)

In the humanities, a PhD may qualify you to be a taxi driver (if you have a driver's license); otherwise the best options are Starbucks and McDonalds....

DON SURBER: A detached view of Trump:

"Neither our pundits nor our political class may be prepared to acknowledge as much, but in the short time in which Trump has held the presidency, he has done his country more 'essential service' than the last three presidents combined," Short wrote.

"Liberating the nation from the regulatory tutelage in which his statist predecessor bound it, reforming the tax code, positioning the United States to attain economic-growth rates of 3 to 4 percent, appointing Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court (with Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation pending in September), appointing federal judges across the country who will uphold (not rewrite) our laws, securing our hitherto unsecured southern border with Mexico, putting China on notice that their unfair trade practices will no longer fly, and initiating talks to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, with or without the cooperation of Kim Jong-un — these are all steps in the right direction."

"They are also proof that there is an inspired maverick in Trump, and it is on this aspect of his subject that Black focuses in his insightful study."

Agreed.

ONLY IN MINNESOTA: Women on inflatable rainbow unicorn rescued from lake.

Sometimes even unicorns need help from police....

ON CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION: Does diversity really unite us?

Short answer: No.

THIS TIME WE'LL DO IT RIGHT: Chicago is next to look at Universal Basic Income.

Uh huh. Right.

THEY WANT TO TAKE TRUMP'S STAR BACK? Thirty more popped up today.

NEAT: swimming from a submarine.

WHEN YOUR ‘GENDER REVOLUTION’ needs a glossary it’s time to throw in the towel.

BEST T-SHIRT EVER! You gotta love Kid Rock...

From my email. I am sorry to see that my former home state of Virginia has joined Dumbfuckistan....

MARC THIESSEN: Explain the Chinese spy, Sen. Feinstein. If you use an ad blocker to prevent tracking, as I do, don't bother clicking through to the Washington Post. The 'news' rag is mostly a waste of time anyway.

SOME TIPS for [enlivening] the Academy Awards. But I still won't watch....

THE NEW YORK TIMES does temperature - badly.

If you convert the Fahrenheit (F) and Celsius (C) temperatures to their absolute equivalents, Rankine (R) and Kelvin (K), that 3.4 F May-July temperature differential was a yuuge! 0.65%.

MICHAEL RAMIREZ: America's withdrawal from the JCPOA is working.

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ TKO'd in debate challenge.

THE FARCE IS STRONG IN THIS ONE: De Blasio disses Fox News for dividing Americans.

HEATHER MACDONALD: The negative impact of the #MeToo movement.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, Space Farce, uh, Force edition, has posted. As usual I had a hard time selecting a favorite:

Check out Jerry Brown's bullet train and, for Progressives especially, the Venn diagram.

GOOD: Department of Energy proposes ending Obama-era rules on incandescent light bulbs. While I am switching to LED light bulbs throughout the house, I still have incandescent bulbs left to use.

DON'T GET MAD, MOCK THEM: Awesome prank of the week.

Mockery works - and it's fun.

TECHNOLOGY: Why does my landline phone ring when there's no one there?

NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST can’t figure out if racist tweets are a fireable offense or not.

Here's a hint: racist tweets are not fireable if they're from the progressive Left or any of their fellow travelers; otherwise they are.

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: We hate fossil fuels so much we're going to let them contribute to our campaign.

IT'S OFFICIAL: We need more good guys with guns, and fewer cowardly officials with guns.

MAYBE I SHOULD STOP bringing up my cat so much when people tell me stories about their kids.

Then again, maybe not....

MICHAEL GOODWIN: Why it's time for Trump to play his ace in the hole.

[A] president has almost unlimited powers to declassify any document within the executive branch. It is a mystery why Trump has hesitated to use that power....

He could, in an instant, strike a blow for accountability and transparency by ordering the Justice Department to give Congress everything it wants, subject to very limited restrictions.

Embarrassment does not qualify as a reason for withholding information.

I've held DoD (and other) security clearances for about 55 years, with the last 30 or so at the highest levels in the intelligence community. I know - know - that any damage to national security that may be done by presidential declassification is transitory at worst. Unless you're a deep state bureaucrat, in which case it could be fatal to your career.

Not that I mind.

DEMOCRAT IDENTITY POLITICS: ban the phrase but not the politics. Sure, that'll win elections.

THE LEFT'S DIRE CONSEQUENCES: Chicago edition. Once you've finished, click through to Jack Dunphy's complete post at PJ Media.

VICTORY GIRLS: Blue wave missing in action. I think I'll hold off on declaring the deep blue wave a derp blue trickle until after all the 'lost' preprinted ballots have been found and counted.

UPDATE: Guess where some of those lost votes were found: Election officials in Franklin County found 588 previously uncounted votes in a Columbus suburb. Now there are only 1,565 votes left to 'find'.

THOUGHTS FROM THE AMMO LINE on what to tell our daughters about the 2016 election.

ROGER L. SIMON: Tennessee Senate race may be most crucial of 2018.

HEH: Cops post mugshots of Antifa rioters, liberals freak out.

It's called "punching back twice as hard".

CNN'S JIM ACOSTA: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, the anti-Trump Resistance likes me.”

Nope, nope, and ... (wait for it) ... yep.

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM THREATENS MINORITIES: Nothing better protects victims of bigotry than a system where they can pursue their needs and wants outside the realm of popular control.

Short summary: Socialism, 'democratic' or otherwise, only works if you're part of the in group. See Venezuela. Cuba. Etc.

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: the gift that keeps on giving. The Stephen Miller tweet would be funny if it weren't a possible outcome.

BUT, BUT, BUT ... THEY DIDN'T DO IT RIGHT. It will be different this time.

YES, THERE WAS COLLUSION. But it didn't involve Trump.

I PREFER THE BALLOT BOX, but I'm prepared for the cartridge box.

THE DEFECTIONS ARE GETTING SERIOUS: California protesters harass Congressman's Hispanic wife for not staying on Progressive plantation.

Racism is one of the defining characteristics of the Left.

HOW DO CIVIL WARS HAPPEN?

Two or more sides disagree on who runs the country. And they can't settle the question through elections because they don't even agree that elections are how you decide who's in charge. That's the basic issue here. Who decides who runs the country? When you hate each other but accept the election results, you have a country. When you stop accepting election results, you have a countdown to a civil war.

The Mueller investigation is about removing President Trump from office and overturning the results of an election. We all know that. But it's not the first time they've done this. The first time a Republican president was elected this century, they said he didn't really win. The Supreme Court gave him the election. There's a pattern here.

What do sure odds of the Democrats rejecting the next Republican president really mean? It means they don't accept the results of any election that they don't win. It means they don't believe that transfers of power in this country are determined by elections.

That's a civil war.

There's no shooting. At least not unless you count the attempt to kill a bunch of Republicans at a charity baseball game practice. But the Democrats have rejected our system of government.

This isn't dissent. It's not disagreement. You can hate the other party. You can think they're the worst thing that ever happened to the country. But then you work harder to win the next election. When you consistently reject the results of elections that you don't win, what you want is a dictatorship.

Your very own dictatorship.

The only legitimate exercise of power in this country, according to Democrats, is its own. Whenever Republicans exercise power, it's inherently illegitimate. The Democrats lost Congress. They lost the White House. So what did they do? They began trying to run the country through Federal judges and bureaucrats. Every time that a Federal judge issues an order saying that the President of the United States can't scratch his own back without his say so, that's the civil war.

Our system of government is based on the constitution, but that's not the system that runs this country. The Democrat's system is that any part of government that it runs gets total and unlimited power over the country.

If the Democrats are in the White House, then the president can do anything. And I mean anything. He can have his own amnesty for illegal aliens. He can fine you for not having health insurance. His power is unlimited. He's a dictator.

But when Republicans get into the White House, suddenly the President can't do anything. He isn't even allowed to undo the illegal alien amnesty that his predecessor illegally invented. A Democrat in the White House has discretion to completely decide every aspect of immigration policy. A Republican doesn't even have the discretion to reverse him. That's how the game is played That's how our country is run. Sad but true, although the left hasn't yet won that particular fight.

When a Democrat is in the White House, states aren't even allowed to enforce immigration law. But when a Republican is in the White House, states can create their own immigration laws. Under Obama, a state wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom without asking permission. But under Trump, Jerry Brown can go around saying that California is an independent republic and sign treaties with other countries.

The Constitution has something to say about that.

Whether it's Federal or State, Executive, Legislative or Judiciary, the left moves power around to run the country. If it controls an institution, then that institution is suddenly the supreme power in the land. This is what I call a moving dictatorship.

Donald Trump has caused the Shadow Government to come out of hiding:

Professional government is a guild. Like medieval guilds. You can't serve in if you're not a member. If you haven't been indoctrinated into its arcane rituals. If you aren't in the club. And Trump isn't in the club. He brought in a bunch of people with him who also are NOT in the club.

Now we're seeing what the pros do when amateurs try to walk in on them. They spy on them, they investigate them and they send them to jail. They use the tools of power to bring them down.

That's not a free country.

It's not a free country when FBI agents who support Hillary take out an 'insurance policy' against Trump winning the election. It's not a free country when Obama officials engage in massive unmasking of the opposition. It's not a free country when the media responds to the other guy winning by trying to ban the conservative media that supported him from social media. It's not a free country when all of the above collude together to overturn an election because the guy who wasn't supposed to win... WON.

Have no doubt. We are in a civil war.

This war is between conservative volunteer government and a leftist Democrat professional government.

From my email

BUT DO THEY LIVE IN A 12TH DISTRICT CEMETERY? 170 registered voters in Ohio’s 12th District listed as over 116 years old.

SARAH JEONG is a boring, typical product of the american academy.

I like Glenn Reynolds' comment, but when the subsidies stop (and they will) it will be because of "fake intellectualism".

WELL, SO MUCH FOR FOOTBALL: NFL preseason sees kneeling, raised fists, during national anthem. I may watch an occasional Dallas Cowboy game, but other than that I look forward to the NFL going bankrupt and being replaced by a (patriotic) USA football league.

WHAT DO LYING LIARS DO? They lie.

NY GOV.ANDREW CUOMO is now at war with the Bill of Rights.

The State already has far too much power. It will get much worse if he wins.

WOULD-BE CARJACKERS foiled by car with stick shift.

Obviously they missed one of the 100 skills everyone should have.

UNEXAMINED PREMISES: How many divisions does Judge Bates command?

For way too long the Left has been using the Federal judiciary instead of Congress to achieve its goals, and it has led to the judicial branch getting a little too big for its britches. It's time for the President to rein them in.

KEN LANGONE: Capitalism isn't perfect, but it still the best economic system out there. Hang in there, the video is slow in loading, but (I think) it will load eventually.

Here's a second excerpt from his interview. Langone with Trish Reagan talking socialism, capitalism - and charity.

A CALEXIT PROPOSAL we can all get behind. Might have to pay the Native Americans a bit extra to patrol their western border, though.

THE NEW RACISM: a toxic stew from 'academia'. More reason to lock the gates to the ivied towers....

DEPLORABLES: Get it through your head that Progressives hate you.

While it is so very tempting to hate them back, it is so much more satisfying to mock them, laugh at them, point at them and snicker.

DOUBLE HEH: Renowned male feminist accused of sexual harassment.

HATE HAS A HOME at the New York Times. The left has always hated deplorable America; Trump just brought that hate to the fore by dismissing them publicly and forcefully (and crudely, much to our delight).

"ONE OF THE MOST PUZZLING THINGS about the Trump presidency is the inability of the liberal establishment to make public opinion headway against him despite his attack on everything they held sacred."

Perhaps that's because everything the liberal establishment holds sacred the rest of us despise.

President Trump may be a bastard, but he's my bastard....

WASHINGTON POST TO SARAH SANDERS: Quit Yer Bitchin’.

Media malevolance defined....

WHEN IT COMES TO THE ENVIRONMENT, these are the good ol’ days. For the U.S., certainly. For the rest of the world, not so much.

CNN'S APRIL RYAN is shown to lie about Trump’s Tampa rally.

The Truth, apparently, has taken out a restraining order on CNN’s April Ryan requiring her to stay at least a country mile from it at all times and she is being fastidious in observing that condition.

On a scale of 1 to 10, CNN's credibility is negative.

CALIFORNIA SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN had a Chinese spy connection she didn’t know about — her driver. For 20 years.

Feinstein known spy connection - crickets from media.

Trump's unproven collusion with Russia/obstruction of justice - hysteria from media.

Makes all kinds of sense, right?

“OUR LIVES are more important than yours.”

OF COURSE NOT: Cory Booker ‘didn’t realize’ sign he held for photo was pro-Palestine. "As Bill Whittle likes to say, we need a wall because Democrats wouldn’t let us have a border."

REPEAT AFTER ME: If it weren't for double standards ....

GO [AWAY], BLUE WAVE: Victor Davis Hanson wants you to vote for/support Elizabeth Heng.

He's right. Return California to its rightful place among the states.

UNIONS TAKE A HIT AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING: States are ordered to stop collecting millions of dollars in fees from public workers. And public sector unions should be banned outright.

VEGANS AND VEGETARIANS may think they’re 'eating healthy.' They’re not.

No wonder they're short on brains....

HERE'S WHAT the Left doesn't get about America.

ONLY THE NEWS THAT WE THINK IS FIT TO PRINT: Offended journalists score victory for formerly free speech.

ARMED BYSTANDER takes down gunman at Titusville back to school event.

ANTIFA: thugs, not protestors. Jail them.

NO STRAW MAN HERE: the mask slips in Santa Barbara.

Short summary: You can't be trusted to govern yourself; we must do it for you.

DAVID HOGG’S VISION IDIOCY: Each member of Congress will have a young person.

David, I suspect most of them already have 'young persons' - they're called children. Better behaved children.

ACOSTA FACES DOWN GRANNY IN NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE. Do.Not.Mess.With.Granny.

FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE: Curse of the easy rider. Show up, get paid. And sometimes you don't even need to show up.

LOSER BACKS another loser in Colorado:

[F]ormer President Obama endorsed a candidate [Jared Polis] who backs single-payer health care, who turned down a historic debate sending a message that he doesn't care about the Western Slope [of Colorado], who supports raising taxes despite not paying them for years, and who cynically invested in medical tourism while voting for Obamacare.

Now endorse Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. former President. Make it a twofer.

THEY GO DOWN: What happens when countries are governed by people who don’t much like the people they govern. Click through to read the full Victor Davis Hanson post. As I see it, the future of the United States looks a lot like current Europe - not a pleasant thought.

TEXAS CONSTRUCTS BORDER WALL to keep out unwanted refugees from California. It's way too late - should have been done in the mid-1980's.

Yes, unfortunately it's only satire.

IT IS LOOKING BETTER: A stake through the heart of the Democrat party.

Click through the link in PowerLine's post on Candace Owens. If there is any justice in this world, she should be the public face of the Republican party in the black communities.

WHAT? There's an 'official' Barack Obama Day? Yes. Yes, there is.

Clearly the farce is strong in Illinois.

SHE'LL FIT RIGHT IN AT THE NEW YORK TIMES: Online harassment 'sufferer' Sarah Jeong hates republicans and cops, too.

"THE GREAT THING ABOUT BEING A LIBERAL is that you can just go with a cliche and skip the careful thinking part."

The PowerLine post by Steven Hayward is actually about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, but that single sentence is so true that I had to emphasize it. Now go and read the whole post.

JONAH GOLDBERG on the constant hunt for fresh outrage. It seems to me that the 'hunters' have traditionally been Democrats and that the 'deer' [Republicans & Conservatives] are finally beginning to shoot back.

It's that double-edged sword thingy....

DON SURBER: Maybe Mexico will pay for the wall.

SO PERHAPS HE SHOULD CHOOSE A CUBAN-TRAINED DOCTOR AS HIS PERSONAL PHYSICIAN: Bernie Sanders smitten with Cuba’s healthcare.

POWERLINE'S PLASTIC STRAW EDITION of its Week in Pictures has posted. There are many, many good ones this week, but this has to be my favorite:

Now go enjoy the rest.

MIKA’S RIGHT — Somebody’s coming unhinged. Only it's not who she thinks.

MAYBE WE SHOULD TREAT PEOPLE ON THE LEFT the way people on the left say we should treat Nazis.

SIX TIMES THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION should have appointed special counsel.

"The common thread between these examples is the stonewalling and cover-ups committed by the Obama administration in order to protect itself. Corruption begat more corruption and there was no way they were going to allow an investigation it couldn’t control (or dismiss as partisan) happen."

DEBUNKING (plastic) straw man arguments.

IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT CONTROL: Democrat candidate funded population control groups fighting 'irresponsible breeding'.

So his parents were irresponsible....

AMMO GRRRLL interviews for Editorial Board position at the New York Slimes. Er, Times, that's right, Times.

Fair warning; put your coffee down first. Swallow, then click the link.

HEH: My other plane is Air Force One.

DEMOCRATS IN A PANIC WHEN THE ECONOMY GETS BETTER says about all you need to know.

WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Let’s face it, Acosta’s life was in danger at that Trump rally.

How? He was in danger of being humiliated to death?

Let's get serious. Trump supporters are conservatives, not liberals, and especially not progressive liberals.

FIVE JOURNALISTS to whom you should pay attention:

The five journalists are Byron York of the Washington Examiner, Mollie Hemingway of the Federalist, Kimberley Strassel of the Wall Street Journal, Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller, and [Andrew} McCarthy of National Review.

Of note, all are regular Fox News contributors.

DRONELIKE DEVICES WITH EXPLOSIVES go off as Venezuelan president gives speech.

Apparently they missed. Damn.

NOT REALLY: Hate has a home at the New York Times. It's always had a home there; they just finally admitting it.

PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: It would be racist to support his rich-white-guy opponent, right?

Right?

IRONY ALERT: The EPA finds ethanol environmentally damaging.

Mother Gaia is going to be pissed....

SO SAD:

Not really.

MAYBE THEY SHOULD JUST QUIT HIRING SNOWFLAKES: Facebook hires team of psychologists to help employees cope with objectionable content.

Initially I thought it would be cheaper to quit hiring snowflakes, but they are a dime a dozen now that Starbucks is fully staffed....

AMMO GRRRLL has thoughts on the economy in real America. I've noticed the same in the little towns in my neck of the woods.

SOME EVIDENCE ...

... that there may possibly be a sane Austinite left.

RENAMING AUSTIN: First they came for the Confederate monuments, but who knows where progressive efforts to erase history will end?

Here's a thought for Austin's progressives: Remember the Taliban?

THE LATEST ACADEMIC FAD: ‘Color Blind Racism’.

In [liberal] academia, we need to re-institute the Ivory Tower - and once they're inside, lock the doors.

IF THE PRESS IS SO WRONG ABOUT THINGS YOU KNOW, what assurance do you have when they're reporting on things you don't know?

SPOCK EXPLAINS DEMOCRATS:

And now President Trump is doing it again.

Much more here.

RANDOM THOUGHT: The Progressive Left has gone from 'stuck on stupid' to 'stuck on insane'.

YES, BUT WHAT'S NEW ABOUT THAT? Are Liberals and Progressives sabotaging the economy?

Read the comments. I think it's fair to say the Left is mad as hell because the Deplorables aren't doing their bidding.

THE SUICIDE OF EXPERTISE: Remember, 'expert' is derived from two words; 'ex', meaning has-been, and 'spurt', which is a drip under pressure.

OOPSIE! AFL-CIO’s Trumka won’t rule out unions endorsing Trump in 2020.

NOW WE DON'T HAVE TO CONTEND WITH GLOBAL WARMING: Thank Heavens for the new campaign against plastic straws.

DILBERT DOES WASHINGTON.

LIBERALS AGAINST FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE: Using naked force against one’s enemies ... is a core appeal of leftism.

YOU'RE NOT 'EDJUMACATED' IF YOU'RE NOT LIBERAL: Do law schools discriminate against conservative and libertarians in faculty hiring?

HEY MEDIA, you started it.

[A]after twenty years of insults, twenty years of bias, twenty years of hating people for being white or male or straight or loyal to constitutional principles — twenty years at least — the press — the media in general — have no claim to respect.

Read the whole thing.

PORTLAND MAYOR under fire for refusing to protect ICE agents during the 'Occupy ICE' protests.

[T]he Mayor ... ordered the cops to stand down and deny help while ICE agents were faced with violent demonstrators occupying their offices.

The mayor has a duty to protect everyone in the city, including ICE agents.

TAKE ME OUT NOT TO THE OLD BALL GAME: The DNC just announced that they won’t be attending because they are apparently “too busy” to make time for the game.

Short summary: The twits had a snit.

INSTAPUNDIT roots out the source of Jim Acosta's disgust with Sarah Sanders.

SOCIALISM AND THE NAIVE: A case for Democratic Socialist tourism.

KURT SCHLICHTER tweets:

If @realDonaldTrump does not read the tweets of the pride of the NYT, Sarah Jeong, to the crowd at his rally Saturday, he is missing a perfect opportunity to show the media to America for who exactly who they are.

Make the liberals defend their own sick, twisted racism.

He should have.

STUDY: Researchers falsely frame Trump supporters as racists.

Surprise, surprise....

“THE NEW YORK TIMES — ENEMY OF WHITE PEOPLE” ... and run by

... (wait for it) ...

WHITE PEOPLE!

From the comments to this post.

HOW DO YOU TELL if a tweet is racist?

THE WORLD ECONOMY RUNS ON GPS. It needs a backup plan.

Umm, GLONASS?

TRUMP’S GREATEST TALENT terrifies Democrats and baffles Republicans.

I think it's a fair assessment, especially for Republicans who have been far too passive for far too long. As for Democrats, they're finding out that their tactics work equally well against them.

THE CHILDREN’S HOUR: American journalism today.

OPEN BIGOTRY at the New York Times. Well, we were told that if Trump got elected, the bigots would out themselves....

AND THERE'S MORE: Latest New York Times hire also had relationship with white nationalist hacker.

BELLY UP TO THE BAR: The old guy buys the new guy a drink.

NOT EXACTLY A SURPRISE: Blumenthal a bloomin' idiot.

I WANT ONE.

And if Hillary runs again, I'll get another.....

PUBLIC ENEMIES: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders performed a beat down on anti-Trump resistance activist Jim Acosta of the political street gang known as CNN.

MORE FROM THE ARCHIVES OF DUMB: the Left demands open borders.

Native Americans most affected....

IT IS THE SACRED DUTY of all conservatives to own the Liberals.

Yes. Yes, it is.

VENEZUELA WILL NEVER RUN OUT OF ZEROS, but they may run out of scapegoats.

INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS back shutting out Brennan and Clapper. The upper levels of both agencies were so politicized by the Obama administration that I can easily understand why President Trump has been very hesitant to accept their input on Russian meddling.

In his shoes, I would as well - until I had checked very carefully for more dirt under the rugs. And sanitized the rugs.

A KNOCKOUT BLOW: Hannity punches back twice as hard.

TRUMP SUPPORT higher than Obama.

Yes. Yes, it is.

OH, THE HORRORS: Sarah Sanders defends free speech.

OBAMA (2012): "We can't just drill our way to lower gas prices."

Trump's America in 2018: Oil edges lower on surprise U.S. crude stockpile build.

SERIOUSLY, who cares if a Liberal is offended? Not me; they can be offended all they want as long as they don't demand I pay for it.

UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME bites the dust again.

For those of you who think universal basic income is so great, try moving to Venezuela.

PASTOR PRAISES TRUMP as ‘pro-black’ at prison reform event. "When your heart is filled with patriotism, there’s no room for bigotry."

CALIFORNIA'S GOV. JERRY BROWN: Fire-fueling heat worse than ‘since civilization emerged 10,000 years ago'.

Oh, bullshit! I lived in the high desert above Los Angeles for 5 years in the late 1990's. We had fires every year I lived there; they were always 'the worst fire season ever'. And every year the California government went back to sleep as soon as the fires were extinguished instead of embarking on a program of bulldozing fire breaks and clearing out dead underbrush to prevent the next year's fires.

Why, you ask? To save the habitat of the 'endangered' - but happy - little forest critters until they could be immolated in the following year's 'worst fire season ever'....

If America had any common sense, it would establish a fire break along the California/Nevada border and let the whole damned state burn to the ground.

TOO MANY POLAR BEARS?

In the 1960s, the world was down to its last 5,000 polar bears. Russia and the United States -- along with other nations -- agreed to stop hunting them except for subsistence by Eskimos and the like.

Now we are up to our eyeballs in polar bears.

VINDICTIVE PROTECTIVENESS: How Generation Z became America’s most intolerant generation.

IT'S REALLY TOUGH keeping up with the Left's hypocrisy.

CNN'S JIM ACOSTA: I’m tired of the White House calling us enemies of the people — and maybe we reporters should chant about it.

Please do ... so we can laugh at you.

MORE: This will convince America there’s no media bias.

TRUMP DERANGEMENT IS REAL - and violent.

THE HUMANITIES: Oh, the inhumanities!

Fortunately the hard sciences - and to a lesser extent, business - have been much harder to infiltrate for the simple reason that they don't have 'feelz'. The down side is that "a portal to the wisdom of the past on the true, the good, and the beautiful" is dead and buried.

PRESIDENT TRUMP congratulates Rush Limbaugh on the 30th anniversary of his radio show.

DON SURBER: In Fake News land, 34 is larger than 44.8.

THANKS TO TRUMP, the job market for mental health professionals is improving: Liberals still hysterical over Hillary Clinton's loss get their own disease.

Nice hospital gown you've got there, Hillary....

THE MID-TERM ELECTIONS ARE APPROACHING.

Only 3 months left until the world collapses....

TRIGGER WARNINGS can do what global warming couldn't: melt snowflakes.

IT'S ABOUT CONTROL: New York state shuts down boy's lemonade stand, citing need for permit. It's always about control.

Keep in mind that government and control are flip sides of the same coin.

JEFF JACOBY: Trade isn't war; it's peace.

Jacoby misses the point: it's peace only if both sides abide by the same rules.

ANOTHER DEMOCRAT GLOBALIST REVEALS HIMSELF: New Jersey Governor flees to $7M Italian vacation home (at taxpayer expense).

BILLIONAIRE ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST TOM STEYER outsmarts himself.

As is true about most activism, Steyer's 'environmentalism' isn't about the environment, it's about who controls the environment.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Progressive regression. Long, but read it all. The Left has created a monster that will return to haunt them.

I FAVOR EUTHANIZATION: Should we euthanize universities or let them commit suicide?

'THIS IS A TWO-WAY STREET': Sanders asked about Trump supporters harassing CNN's Acosta.

Heh. It's that pesky double-edged sword thingy again....

'CALEXIT' SUPPORTERS revamp campaign with plan to convert half of California into 'autonomous Native American nation'.

We would love to see official numbers on nationwide support for Calexit,” he said, adding that, “on a constant basis ... people [are] emailing how they want California to secede, or as they put it: break off and fall into the ocean.

I'm not convinced making eastern California into a Native American 'reservation' is a good idea, but letting western California fall into the ocean has my approval.

DEMOCRATS HAVE INFINITE ALIBIS, but the fact is that America’s factory towns, once solidly blue, are now a GOP haven.

WHO LET THIS [insert bad word] idiot loose on defenseless college students?

ON BRETT KAVANAUGH'S NOMINATION TO THE SUPREME COURT, Sen. Cory Booker [D-NJ] is completely unhinged from reality.

You want more Trump? This is how you do it.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

A Democratic Socialist, to be more precise.

THE MOST ARDENT SOCIALISTS ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED SOCIALISM: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the kind of socialist only capitalism could produce.

ON SOCIAL MEDIA freedom of speech is under attack.

REMINDER: Newsweek is a bad news site. Not fake, bad.

HEH: Trump team crosses the swamp.

You can get your own copy here.

TWO TAKES ON TARIFFS:

First, Kurt Schlichter. Then, Ben Shapiro.

Choose your poison. For me, what I'd like to see is a side-by-side comparison: in this column are the tariffs the U.S. imposes on China; in this column are the tariffs China imposes on the U.S. Similarly, for Mexico, Canada, Great Britian, Germany, France, and so on.

I can understand some tariffs (on all sides) for national security purposes. Every country needs to have the internal resources and manufacturing capacity to defend itself, so some tariffs may be required for the country to maintain those resources and manufacturing capacity. But some is the operative word.

SHORT ANSWER? NO. Will careless, smug Seattle ever stop its off-the-rails projects?

YOU LOST, JOE. It's too late to try to out-Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.