Celebrities in the White House? The Democrats' Double-Standard (VIDEO)

It's Dana Loesch, appearing this morning on Fox & Friends, discussing Kim Kardashian's visit today to the Trump White House:

Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke: 'Cops Are the Good Guys' (VIDEO)

Via Prager University:

Pat Conroy, Beach Music

I'm currently reading Beach Music.

And I just realized I haven't read anything else of Conroy's besides The Prince of Tides, which was phenomenal.

Here's the current paperback, at Amazon, Pat Conroy, Beach Music: A Novel.

And the mass-market paperback, Beach Music (Paperback).

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Samantha Hoopes Nevis Trip for 2018 (VIDEO)

She's great!

Charlotte McKinney in Slightly See-Through

At Taxi Driver, "Charlotte McKinney Braless in Slightly See-Through Tank Top."

'Roseanne' Cancelled After Stupid Tweets

Really stupid:

Roseanne Barr was dropped by ICM Partners, the talent agency that represented her https://t.co/t1RZOb8b7B pic.twitter.com/fLigtoCFrx

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) May 29, 2018

Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger tweeted in support of canceling "Roseanne" https://t.co/t1RZOb8b7B pic.twitter.com/YivntBtAA7

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) May 29, 2018

'Roseanne' cancellation a huge blow to ABC, but network praised for swift action https://t.co/ZHuTBTCD1X pic.twitter.com/42mAZoWbV7

— LA Unvrz (@LAunvrz) May 30, 2018

It's all political, as I was saying last night on Twitter:

See what happens when tweets and phone calls aren’t suppressed like votes??? KEEP. THAT. SAME. ENERGY. #Roseanne https://t.co/l0BHEZVyck pic.twitter.com/pJjojXHD5k

— Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) May 29, 2018

ABC has done the right thing. They’ve stood up against racism. It is our country’s original sin. But this is 2018 and it has no place in the hearts of decent people. Unfortunately our president has stoked these evil fires. If he doesn’t applaud ABC, he will continue to stoke evil

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) May 29, 2018

Roseanne’s problem turned out to be that she far too authentically represented the actual worldview of a significant chunk of the Trump base.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) May 30, 2018

#Roseanne effed up. She had to know what would happen by making a stupid crack like that. This is the chance the left was waiting for, and to them, its the beginning of a purge. Trump’s the ultimate target, BAMN. 🤷‍♂️ https://t.co/3H0NzqrD0z

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) May 30, 2018

Rep. Linda Sánchez Takes the Heat

I use Rep. Rep. Linda Sánchez as an example of newer-style Members of Congress and congressional careers. She represents the 38th district, right next to my college, so she's an interesting example to discuss. Some students live in the district. And she's been in Congress since 2003, so she's got considerable seniority. And of course, she's a Latina.

In any case, she spoke out a year ago about Nancy Pelosi's entrenched leadership, and called for generational change. She's totally right, of course, but now she's in the cross hairs apparently. You know Pelosi's a vindictive bitch, so no matter what happens in the November elections, Sánchez is going to be fighting to keep her spot among the top Democrats in the House.

At Politico, "Highest-ranking Latina braces for backlash over Pelosi snub: Rep. Linda Sánchez called for a new generation of Democratic leadership. Her allies fear it might cost her her own spot in the upper echelon":

Rep. Linda Sánchez called for a new generation of Democratic leadership. Her allies fear it might cost her her own spot in the upper echelon.https://t.co/kO600ptfUm

— POLITICO (@politico) May 30, 2018

Forget Nancy Pelosi. The most endangered member of House Democratic leadership is its most recent entrant and the highest-ranking Latina in Congress, Rep. Linda Sánchez.

As vice chairwoman of the Democratic Caucus, Sánchez occupies the obscure No. 5 spot in Democratic ranks, a position deemed the “potted plant” of leadership by veteran lawmakers. But what is normally a launching pad to greater ambitions could be a blunt end to Sánchez’s so-far promising leadership career as some members have her in their cross hairs come November.

For Sánchez, the trouble started last fall when she shocked the caucus by publicly calling for a change in House Democrats’ leadership regime, long led by Pelosi, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Assistant Minority Leader Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.

It was a sentiment dozens of lawmakers have shared privately — but it was unheard of for a member of leadership to express to the media.

For her part, a defiant Sánchez shrugged off any potential blowback — even if that includes getting booted from leadership.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the future of the caucus,” Sánchez told Politico. “My ultimate goal is to leave behind a stronger Democratic Caucus with an effective majority because I think that would leave the country better off. That’s my ambition for my congressional career.”

The dilemma facing Sánchez is at the heart of tensions within the Democratic Caucus over its static top leadership. Pelosi and her team have made it clear they want to stay in power if Democrats win back the House in November, but their decade-plus reign has left a wake of frustrated younger members with little room to advance.

Sánchez gave voice to frustrations that most members are comfortable expressing only privately, and lawmakers say they’re watching closely to see whether she pays a price for speaking out.

What happens to Sánchez also has significant implications for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and its influence over leadership. She’s not the only prominent member of the group who might want to move up in the ranks where few slots, if any, might be open.

Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico could push for a promotion if his stint as chairman of Democrats’ campaign arm helps them win back the House. Other prominent CHC members, including Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas and Pete Aguilar of California, are also mentioned in the leadership mix, according to members.

Interviews with 20 Democratic lawmakers and aides indicate an overwhelming sense that Sánchez will face a challenge for her leadership post this fall. But opinions are mixed as to whether she’s built up enough loyalty within the caucus to beat back a potential opponent.

So far, no one has stepped forward to say they are planning to challenge Sánchez. And the California Democrat could even have an opportunity to move up if the top three leaders step aside, especially if Democrats underperform in the midterm elections...

More.

'John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls'

I watched TV all day yesterday, which is unusual for me, since I don't watch that much TV, except for baseball. I recalled that HBO plays the entire 10-part "Band of Brothers" series on Memorial Day, and I tuned in around 9:00am. And once I got going, I couldn't stop watching. I love that show. I love it more than just about anything else ever made.

After it was over on the West Coast, I clicked over to the main HBO channel and caught the new documentary of John McCain. It was surprisingly good. McCain generates intense passion, if not hatred, so folks can just take my word for it, or just watch it and judge for themselves. McCain's a patriot, no doubt. But that doesn't absolve him from the disgusting wishy-washy flip-flopping he's engaged in his entire life, and of which he's now currently engaging with relative gusto. All the bad calls he's made, the one's that don't accord with the radical left's cultural PC dominance, are now jettisoned for the convenience of preserving a legacy. The biggest repudiation he's made is of selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008. Actually, I think that's one of the best things he's ever done. If he hadn't chosen Palin it's likely that Obama would have matched the Electoral College victories of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in 1972 and 1984, respectively. That is, McCain would have probably one just his home state of Arizona if it wasn't for Palin on the ticket. She energized conservatives around the country and give the GOP a real forward/progressive orientation. Say what you will about Sarah Palin --- not the least of which she was often a policy lightweight --- the woman is genuine and genuinely conservative, and perhaps paved the way for the Trump administration today, and the resurgence of the regular, red-blooded Americanism that has driven the left-wing establishment literally insane since November 8, 2016.

Now John McCain's even saying that his support for the Iraq war was a mistake. Really, really, that's a bridge too far for me. It wasn't a mistake. McCain was right all along, and he would have been right for our country. Islamic State would have never emerged under a McCain presidency. The nucleus of the organization was crushed in the Bush administration's surge. But Barack Obama's precipitous withdrawal, which led to the rise of ISIS and the Syrian civil war and humanitarian crisis, squandered all of the heroic sacrifices made to secure the Iraqi people. McCain's attempt to whitewash his legacy is pathetic.

Sure, he's a genuine war hero. He shouldn't ever be attacked for his service. But his service shouldn't exempt him from criticism of his mistakes, and absolving his mistakes is the central goal of "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

Here's his latest book, if you're a fan, The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations.

And the preview:

Sofia Richie Bikini Shots

At Drunken Stepfather, "SOFIA RICHIE IN A BIKINI STEP MOM-ING OF THE DAY."

Adam Alter, Irresistible

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Adam Alter, Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked.

Sherry Turkle, Alone Together

At Amazon, Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.

Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans

Here's Brian Kilmeade's new book, at Amazon, Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle That Shaped America's Destiny.

And at Prager University:

Unconscious Bias Training

I've been boycotting Starbucks for a while. The company's closing 8,000 stores today for "unconscious bias training," which sounds like a joke to me and won't change my mind. In fact, it makes me even less likely to go there for a cup of coffee: too left wing.

At USA Today, "Starbucks anti-bias training: Here's what to expect as the coffee chain closes 8,000 stores."

Critics and Historians Pick Philip Roth's Best Book

This is really great.

At the New York Times, "Philip Roth’s Best Book":

Philip Roth’s Best Book:
Gary Shteyngart, Richard Ford, Ron Chernow, Lorrie Moore, Stephen King, Michael Lewis, Joseph O’Neill on their favorite Roth books. https://t.co/Xixsh8NeYc

— Michiko Kakutani (@michikokakutani) May 25, 2018

The death of Philip Roth this week led to near instantaneous debate about which of his books was his best. There was the transgressive Roth; the epic, historical Roth; the personal, memoiristic Roth; the postmodernist playful Roth. His genius has been an inspiration and a prod to a few generations of writers now. And it usually comes down to the individual book, that one book, which first opened their mouths in awe.

In that spirit, we asked a number of great, contemporary novelists, critics and historians, to make their own case for Roth’s greatest book. It’s silly to have to choose, of course, but for those only now coming to his work, consider these good places to start.

Jonah Goldberg, Suicide of the West

*BUMPED.*

Available now, at Amazon, Jonah Goldberg, Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy.

Steven Saylor, Roma

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Steven Saylor, Roma: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome).

Also, Empire: The Novel of Imperial Rome.

These two are grand sweeping epics, covering centuries. Start with Saylor as you jump into this fiction literature on Ancient Rome. Saylor and then Colleen McCullough.

Elisabeth Moss Has Complete Control Over Her Nude Scenes in 'The Handmaid's Tale'

At WWTDD, "Elisabeth Moss in Complete Control of Selling Her Nude Body."

Lilith Saintcrow, Afterwar

First there was Omar El Akkad's, American War. And now here comes another in this burgeoning genre.

At Amazon, Lilith Saintcrow, Afterwar: A Novel.

Jennifer Delacruz's Sunday Forecast

It's the May Gray weather, and it's lingering.

But Ms. Jennifer looks fantastic in that white dress.

At ABC News 10 San Diego:

Danica Patrick's Seen as Role Model, Though Critics See Her as Under-Performing

This is interesting. At LAT, "Danica Patrick's final race at Indy 500 comes with a hotly debated legacy":

Danica Patrick's race car is painted in a lustrous neon green one last time, a hue that ensures its "look at me" quality even when the car is a 230-mph blur.

The color is apropos of Patrick and her racing career, which she's ending Sunday with a final attempt to win the Indianapolis 500, the race that initially made her famous in 2005.

From that race forward, Patrick — often driving the shiny green car favored by her and her longtime main sponsor, the web services firm GoDaddy Inc. — has been the driver everyone watched, analyzed and endlessly debated.

That was due not only to her on-track achievements as a female in a male-dominated sport, but also to her relentless self-promotion, which together earned her the one-name celebrity of being simply "Danica."

"I can't think of a better way to end my racing career than at Indianapolis for the 500," the 36-year-old Patrick said in an interview. "I can't think of a more cool way to be done.

"I mean, to finish up at a place that has so many good memories for me, and at the biggest race of the year for Indy cars and arguably the biggest race of the year, period," she said.

Patrick achieved several firsts as a woman in the IndyCar and NASCAR racing series, and in doing so became a role model for countless young women and their parents who admired her feats, tough persona and unflagging determination.

No less than seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson tweeted earlier this year: "Thank you @danicapatrick for being a strong role model to the little girls in my life," referring to his two young daughters.

Patrick's fame also was burnished by her blunt, outspoken manner, her savvy marketing of her personal "brand" that earned her millions of dollars in endorsements, and by the outsized media attention she always received.

Patrick's overall record on the track was middling; she had one victory in 13 years of big-league racing. That fueled the debate about whether she deserved the attention she received and made the Roscoe, Ill., native one of the most polarizing figures in sports.

"I don't know that we've seen someone who is so popular when not performing as well," said Greg Goldring, senior director of sports and entertainment at the Marketing Arm, a marketing agency.

Her impact on motor racing will be argued long after the 102nd running of the iconic race, one of the biggest one-day sporting events in the world. Patrick is adamant that she's not going to just circle the track as more than 250,000 spectators and millions more on television look on.

"I'm here to win the race," she said...

In California, Democrats Go All-Out to Avoid Disaster

We have the top-two "jungle primary" in the Golden State nowadays, and with Democrats worried about a crowded field, Republicans are in the driver's seat. This is cracking me up, actually.

At NYT, "Democrats Go All-Out to Avoid Disaster in California House Races":

NEW: Democrats fear they are up the creek in Rohrabacher’s seat and could face same fate in Issa district, too.

From the OC to La Jolla, on the $4M (!) rescue mission to keep em in play >https://t.co/KAXFMSHS2b

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) May 26, 2018

IRVINE, Calif. — National Democrats, confronting mushrooming political chaos across Southern California, are pouring millions of dollars into congressional races to avert a self-inflicted disaster that could undermine their chances at taking control of the House.

After months of optimism that the state’s June 5 primary would position them to pick off seven Republican-held districts in November — a substantial down payment on reclaiming the House — Democrats are now trying to ensure that they do not hurt themselves because of their unusually crowded slates of candidates.

With so many Democrats running, the party’s fear is that the vote will be splintered, allowing Republicans — who have fewer candidates — to dominate some primaries. The party and allied groups are spending more than $4 million on just three campaigns, intervening in one contest to prop up a favored candidate; attacking a Republican from the right in another; and even reminding people not to waste their votes on “ghost candidates” who have dropped out yet remain on the ballot.

As any progressive activist will explain through gnashed teeth, the head-snapping scramble is because of the state’s “top two” open primary system, which allows the two leading vote-getters — regardless of political parties — to advance to the general election.

The “top two” system was meant to create incentives for political moderation in a state where about a quarter of the voters are independents, but it has created immense stakes for Democrats: They need to win 23 seats to take back the House, and party officials believe the path runs through the seven competitive California districts, all of which Hillary Clinton carried in 2016.

“It’s a disaster,” Gail Reisman, a retired gerontologist and Toronto native who lives in Representative Dana Rohrabacher’s district, said after attending a candidate forum Tuesday. “If we have two Republicans running I think I’m going back to Canada.”

After three of the Democrats opposing Mr. Rohrabacher had taken a turn speaking at the forum, held at a synagogue, the moderator briefly came back on stage to alert the audience that the parking lot was so crowded the police intended to ticket those cars parked more creatively than legally.

The overflow of Priuses and Mercedes was a particularly vivid reminder of the California candidate logjam. Confusion and frustration among Democrats here only seems to grow by the day, as the state and national party back different contenders and spending sprays forth like an out-of-control garden hose. Some voters are not sure who to back to feel confident that a Democrat will advance past June 5, and they increasingly worry that Republicans will foil the party’s chances to stop President Trump’s agenda in the House next year.

The painful twist is that what seemed like the Democrats’ most valuable asset in the midterm campaign — the wave of liberal activism unleashed by President Trump — has metastasized into a mortal threat because of the glut of candidates.

Nowhere is the danger more acute than in a pair of contiguous districts that stretch from Orange County’s Seal Beach down the Pacific coastline to the cliffs of La Jolla.

It is here where national Democrats, deeply concerned their voters are scattered among little-known House candidates, are staging a rescue mission to ensure they are not locked out this fall in Mr. Rohrabacher’s district and the one farther south held by Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican who is retiring.

Opposition research and hard-edge direct mail pieces are flying between candidates, too, some of them tinged with accusations of #metoo impropriety. But surveys show many of the candidates bunched together in the teens and few operatives have a firm grasp for what will unfold...

Democrats' Counterintelligence Operation Against Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign

It's Sharyl Attkisson, at the Hill, "8 signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump's campaign":

My latest in The Hill: 8 signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump's campaign https://t.co/CHyDoeHDpb

— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) May 23, 2018

It may be true that President Trump illegally conspired with Russia and was so good at covering it up he’s managed to outwit our best intel and media minds who've searched for irrefutable evidence for two years. (We still await special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.)

But there’s a growing appearance of alleged wrongdoing equally as insidious, if not more so, because it implies widespread misuse of America’s intelligence and law enforcement apparatus.

Here are eight signs pointing to a counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump for political reasons...

Keep reading.

Jay Leno’s Garage: Hellcat-Powered Toyota PriuSRT8 (VIDEO)

This is crazy lol.

Via Theo Spark.

Charles Frazier, Varina

At Amazon, Charles Frazier, Varina: A Novel.

Neal Stephenson, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

*BUMPED.*

Neal Stephenson, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.: A Novel.

ICYMI: Matthew Sullivan, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Matthew Sullivan, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore.

Sarah Perry, The Essex Serpent

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Sarah Perry, The Essex Serpent: A Novel.

Richard White, The Republic for Which It Stands

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Richard White, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896.

New Nina Agdal Bikini Shots

On Instagram.

And at Drunken Stepfather, "NINA AGDAL ASS IN A BIKINI OF THE DAY":

Just because you were in Sports Illustrated it’s final years, before it shuts down like Interview magazine….doesn’t mean you’re shit…even if you can scam 100k a year from bikini lines who also believe your lie.

She dumped her miami boyfriend for LEO DICAPRIO because she’s that much of a delusional idiot, who thought she was hot enough to have a chance, probably because she’s knows he is gay and that she’s big and dude like…

Just a garbage opportunist, who at least knows to cover up that face…in her bikini selfies of self promotion she’s onto.

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BONUS: Gary Krist, The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles.

Woman Says Alexa Recorded Private Conversations, Sent Them to Contact in Family's Address Book

This isn't creepy at all.

At Instapundit, "I DO NOT TRUST THE “INTERNET OF THINGS” (CONT’D): Woman says her Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact."

The 'Generic Ballot' is Overrated

Folks have been trumpeting the latest polls showing Republicans jumping to a lead in the "generic ballot" for the midterm congressional elections.

I don't give these polls a lot of credence. It's a bit early to expect much from these surveys, for one thing.

The main rule for the midterms is that the president's party always loses seats. That means Republicans. How many will they lose? That depends. On a lot. So, we'll see.

I'm going to be surprised if Democrats don't take the majority in the House of Representatives. They need to pick up 23 seats. There's about 43 Republican House members retiring, presumable most of those because incumbents are facing nasty reelection bids, with an extremely motivated Democrat opposition base. Trump Derangement Syndrome is going to drive energized leftists to the polls in November. I doubt polling is capturing this eruption of partisan hatred adequately.

But then, when your party allies with Hamas and MS-13 against the president (and the country, frankly) all bets are off. Maybe it's true that the public has had enough of Democrat Party anti-Americanism and is grateful for all the winning under this administration. We'll see.

In any case, here's Sean Trende, at RCP, with an analysis, "How the Battle for the House Is Shaping Up":

Characteristically strong assessment of the state of play in the House from @SeanTrende https://t.co/6KypcRmm7c

— Kyle Kondik (@kkondik) May 25, 2018

If you had asked me six months ago who I thought would win control of the House of Representatives in 2018, I wouldn’t have hesitated before answering, “It’s early, but Democrats are heavily favored, although conventional wisdom has been very slow to catch up.” With a raft of GOP retirements in highly vulnerable open seats, a president with job approval ratings in the 30s, and a generic ballot lead for Democrats in the double digits, it was increasingly difficult to spell out a path to victory for Republicans. In fact, things were bad enough that it appeared their losses could grow into the 40 or even 50 seat range.

Things have changed. If the election were held today, it’s not clear who would hold the chamber. I might put a thumb on the scale for Republicans, but right now – and it is still early – the House is likely to be close. Once again, conventional wisdom seems slow to catch up, with analysts still discussing the toxic environment for Republicans. There are three things to consider..

Keep reading.

The Real Constitutional Crisis

It's Kim Strassel, at WSJ:

The Real Constitutional Crisis https://t.co/RMpGZe1Fuy

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 25, 2018

Democrats and their media allies are again shouting “constitutional crisis,” this time claiming President Trump has waded too far into the Russia investigation. The howls are a diversion from the actual crisis: the Justice Department’s unprecedented contempt for duly elected representatives, and the lasting harm it is doing to law enforcement and to the department’s relationship with Congress.

The conceit of those claiming Mr. Trump has crossed some line in ordering the Justice Department to comply with oversight is that “investigators” are beyond question. We are meant to take them at their word that they did everything appropriately. Never mind that the revelations of warrants and spies and dirty dossiers and biased text messages already show otherwise.

We are told that Mr. Trump cannot be allowed to have any say over the Justice Department’s actions, since this might make him privy to sensitive details about an investigation into himself. We are also told that Congress—a separate branch of government, a primary duty of which is oversight—cannot be allowed to access Justice Department material. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes can’t be trusted to view classified information—something every intelligence chairman has done—since he might blow a source or method, or tip off the president.

That’s a political judgment, but it holds no authority. The Constitution set up Congress to act as a check on the executive branch—and it’s got more than enough cause to do some checking here. Yet the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation have spent a year disrespecting Congress—flouting subpoenas, ignoring requests, hiding witnesses, blacking out information, and leaking accusations.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has not been allowed to question a single current or former Justice or FBI official involved in this affair. Not one. He’s also more than a year into his demand for the transcript of former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s infamous call with the Russian ambassador, as well as reports from the FBI agents who interviewed Mr. Flynn. And still nothing.

Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, is being stonewalled on at least three inquiries. The House Judiciary and Oversight committee chairmen required a full-blown summit in April with Justice Department officials to get movement on their own subpoena. The FBI continues to block a fuller release of the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia report.

Not that the documents that Justice sends over are of much use. Mr. Grassley this week excoriated the department for its routine practice of redacting key information, and for similarly refusing to provide a “privilege log” that details the legal basis for withholding information. His team recently discovered that one of the items Justice had scrubbed from the Peter Strzok-Lisa Page texts was the duo’s concern that former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe had a $70,000 conference table. (Was it lacquered with unicorn tears?) A separate text refers to an investigation that the White House is “running,” but conveniently blacks out which one. The FBI won’t answer Mr. Johnson’s questions about who is doing the redacting.

This intransigence is creating an unprecedented toxicity between law enforcement and Congress, undermining what has long been a cooperative and vital relationship...

Hence, the real constitution crisis -- the D.O.J and F.B.I.

More at that top link.

I Melt With You

From yesterday's drive-time, at Jack FM Los Angeles, Modern English (at Wikipedia):

You Dropped A Bomb On Me
The Gap Band
7:03am

Heart-Shaped Box
Nirvana
6:51am

Tainted Love
Soft Cell
6:47am

(Don't Fear) The Reaper
Blue Öyster Cult
6:43am

Too Close
Alex Clare
6:39am

Pour Some Sugar On Me
Def Leppard
6:35am

Do I Wanna Know?
Arctic Monkeys
6:22am

So Alive
Love And Rockets
6:18am

Walk This Way
Aerosmith
6:14am

Pictures Of You
The Cure
6:09am

You Give Love A Bad Name
Bon Jovi
6:06am

I Melt With You
Modern English
6:02am

30-Year-Old Man Must Move Out of Parents' House, Judge Rules (VIDEO)

This story was getting a lot of attention the other day, and then the dude went on CNN with Brooke Baldwin, god knows why?

At Hot Air, "The 30-Year-Old Being Evicted From His Parents’ Home Is Exactly How You Thought He’d Be":

Exit question: Is it true, as Brooke Baldwin claims near the end, that the public views Millennials as “so entitled”? Goofing on them is fun but what supposedly makes Millennials more entitled than the garbage generation you and I know as Boomers? Millennials have had their career prospects damaged by the financial crisis, with all sorts of bad knock-on effects (some of which may resonate with Rotondo), and they’ve had their retirement prospects cannibalized by greedy elders who won’t let go of their federal entitlements no matter what it means for the country’s future. If ever you’re forced to choose between Millennials and Boomers, take the Millennials every time.

Actually, I'm a Boomer so no.

Interesting post, in any case.

Friedrich Hayek, The Fatal Conceit

At Amazon, Friedrich Hayek, The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism.

Bachelorette JoJo Fletcher

At Zero Hedge:

So this just happened: Goldman has hired former Bachelorette JoJo Fletcher to help it sell subprime loans https://t.co/SdcJs3i4zO pic.twitter.com/fb8Lta4YWE

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 3, 2018

Dodge Challenger Hellcat for 2019

Still the same basic body styling (which some reviews have said is dated) but with new aggressive twin scoops. Definitely looks awesome. I don't mind the supposedly dated body style. I love the Challengers. LOVE!

At Car & Driver, via Jay Leno's Garage, and Autoblog below:

ICYMI: SRT Teases New Challenger Hellcat Hood. #JayLenosGarage https://t.co/qvs77tMEIA pic.twitter.com/vhda4vxKEE

— Jay Leno's Garage (@LenosGarage) May 5, 2018

2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat with twin-scoop hood spied with no camouflage: https://t.co/JpQTXODAeR pic.twitter.com/Lx1Bj5mUmt

— Autoblog (@therealautoblog) May 7, 2018

Philip Roth Still Has Plenty to Say

An interview with Philip Roth, from January, at the New York Times, "No Longer Writing, Philip Roth Still Has Plenty to Say":

In an exclusive interview with The New York Times, Philip Roth shared his thoughts on Trump, #MeToo and retirement (from January) https://t.co/LTsow8o6q6

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 23, 2018

I have interviewed Roth on several occasions over the years, and last month I asked if we could talk again. Like a lot of his readers, I wondered what the author of “American Pastoral,” “I Married a Communist” and “The Plot Against America” made of this strange period we are living in now. And I was curious about how he spent his time. Sudoku? Daytime TV? He agreed to be interviewed but only if it could be done via email. He needed to take some time, he said, and think about what he wanted to say.

C.M. [Charles McGrath] In a few months you’ll turn 85. Do you feel like an elder? What has growing old been like?

P.R. [Philip Roth] Yes, in just a matter of months I’ll depart old age to enter deep old age — easing ever deeper daily into the redoubtable Valley of the Shadow. Right now it is astonishing to find myself still here at the end of each day. Getting into bed at night I smile and think, “I lived another day.” And then it’s astonishing again to awaken eight hours later and to see that it is morning of the next day and that I continue to be here. “I survived another night,” which thought causes me to smile once more. I go to sleep smiling and I wake up smiling. I’m very pleased that I’m still alive. Moreover, when this happens, as it has, week after week and month after month since I began drawing Social Security, it produces the illusion that this thing is just never going to end, though of course I know that it can stop on a dime. It’s something like playing a game, day in and day out, a high-stakes game that for now, even against the odds, I just keep winning. We will see how long my luck holds out.

C.M. Now that you’ve retired as a novelist, do you ever miss writing, or think about un-retiring?

P.R. No, I don’t. That’s because the conditions that prompted me to stop writing fiction seven years ago haven’t changed. As I say in “Why Write?,” by 2010 I had “a strong suspicion that I’d done my best work and anything more would be inferior. I was by this time no longer in possession of the mental vitality or the verbal energy or the physical fitness needed to mount and sustain a large creative attack of any duration on a complex structure as demanding as a novel.... Every talent has its terms — its nature, its scope, its force; also its term, a tenure, a life span.... Not everyone can be fruitful forever.”

C.M. Looking back, how do you recall your 50-plus years as a writer?

P.R. Exhilaration and groaning. Frustration and freedom. Inspiration and uncertainty. Abundance and emptiness. Blazing forth and muddling through. The day-by-day repertoire of oscillating dualities that any talent withstands — and tremendous solitude, too. And the silence: 50 years in a room silent as the bottom of a pool, eking out, when all went well, my minimum daily allowance of usable prose.

RTWT.

Kara Del Toro is Hot

At Egotastic!, "Kara Del Toro’s Super Sexy Legs at the ‘Hotel Artemis’ Premiere."

Faith Goldy Attacked by Antifa (VIDEO)

She's a good lady. I think she has too many good graces among the extreme Stormfront right, but other than that, I like her.

Terrible attack.

Remember I was attacked by the ANSWER Communists in Anaheim a few years back, and I stopped covering protests after that, mainly because it's not worth it. If I had my own security I'd do it, but it's not as important to me nowadays.

In any case, at the Rebel, "Media stands with Antifa in violent attack on Faith Goldy."

And Ms. Faith's own video:



Also, "Banned from Patreon."

Shop Today

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

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BONUS: Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy.

Devin Brugman Wednesday

Nice Wednesday wake-up with the luscious Ms. Devin:

Golden woman 🦋 Devin wears the Clovelly Set in Nude - shop on https://t.co/YwQGXpQw6I // #MondaySignatureCollection pic.twitter.com/gCbIxXyZy4

— Monday Swimwear (@MONDAYSWIMWEAR) April 2, 2018

The sizing we couldn’t find anywhere, so we made it ourselves 👌🏼 Introducing the new M body / V top Portofino One Piece, for all of you girls with a S-M waist and DDD-E cup bust! Shop the new size at https://t.co/YwQGXpQw6I! #MondaySwimwear pic.twitter.com/oPZOOzW4YR

— Monday Swimwear (@MONDAYSWIMWEAR) April 25, 2018

Emily Ratajkowski Topless Photo Shoot (VIDEO)

This is a throwback to 2015, but good for the memories, lol.

And see the Mirror U.K., "Emily Ratajkowski delights followers wearing nothing but gold chains in risqué topless shoot: The Blurred Lines babe is leaving little to the imagination in her latest revealing Instagram shot."

Russell Kirk, The Conservative Mind

At Amazon, Russell Kirk, The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot.

Michelle Malkin Discusses Possibility F.B.I. Planted Spy in the Trump Campaign (VIDEO)

On Hannity's last night, at Fox News:

Jordan Peterson and the Failure of the Left

At Quillette:

This piece from someone on the left who feels fellow leftists were selling her a false bill of goods about who Jordan Peterson is dovetails with what I’ve heard from several other people in conversation and correspondence. https://t.co/tGBl7I76ft

— Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) May 23, 2018

Tomi Lahren Responds to Having Drink Thrown on Her at Restaurant (VIDEO)

I'm not surprised at this at all. Thank god it was only a glass of water.

She responds toward the end of the clip, and President Trump tweets his support below.

Everybody is with Tomi Lahren, a truly outstanding and respected young woman! @foxandfriends

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018

Philip Roth, 1933-1918

I read American Pastoral last year and was highly impressed. However, Portnoy's Complaint turned a lot off people of to Roth's writing. I'm still agnostic on that front.

Either way, requiescat in pace.

At the New York Times, at Memorandum, "Philip Roth, Towering Novelist Who Explored Lust, Jewish Life and America, Dies at 85."

Breaking News: The literary giant Philip Roth has died at 85. He explored themes of lust, vanity and Jewish identity in novels like "Portnoy's Complaint." https://t.co/5ZRj4bGxM5

— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 23, 2018

Trump's Base is Bolstering G.O.P. Before the Midterms

From Ronald Brownstein, at CNN, "Beating Republicans in November will be harder than Democrats thought":

Despite all his provocations, the GOP coalition is consolidating around Trump to maintain power in DC. To retake power in November, it increasingly appears Dems will need to match their intensity. https://t.co/gYRAG1xOmn

— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) May 22, 2018

(CNN) It's become a numbing Washington ritual. Donald Trump shatters a traditional boundary on the exercise of presidential power. Or he uses inflammatory language that stirs racial animosities. Or he's hit by new revelations in the overlapping investigations into his campaign's contacts with foreign governments in 2016 and his own tangled financial and personal affairs before the presidency.

As each of these bombshells detonate, sometimes within hours of each other, congressional Republican leaders then react with little more than a shrug. Even more important, the vast majority of the Republican electoral coalition increasingly responds the same way.

All of these dynamics played out multiple times this past week. Trump shattered boundaries by openly demanding the Department of Justice investigate the ongoing special counsel examination of his campaign and by privately pressuring the US Postal Service to raise rates on Amazon, whose owner, Jeff Bezos, also owns the Washington Post, which Trump considers an enemy. He used George Wallace-like language in describing members of the MS-13 gang as "animals." And he faced the startling revelation that during the 2016 campaign his son Donald Trump Jr., who had earlier convened with Russians offering damaging information on Hillary Clinton, also met with emissaries of Middle Eastern governments offering to help in the election.

After all that, Republicans responded this week with the sort of silence usually expected from the crowd at the 18th hole of a golf tournament.

The Trump paradox

The elimination of any distance between Trump and the conventional Republican interests that controlled the party before him has happened so incrementally it can be difficult to discern from day to day. But it remains one of the central political dynamics of 2018. Over the long term, Trump's success at stamping his polarizing brand on the GOP remains a huge electoral gamble for the party because it risks alienating the young, well-educated and diverse groups growing, rather than shrinking, in the electorate.

But in the near-term, the GOP's choice to ally so unequivocally with such a unique president may have the paradoxical effect of producing a much more conventional midterm election than seemed possible earlier this year. And that means for Democrats to secure the gains they seek in November, they will need to overcome the typical challenges they face in a midterm election far more than they expected even only a few months ago.

In both 2010 and 2014, the two midterm elections under Barack Obama, Democrats suffered huge losses. Each time the party faced similar problems. The biggest was a collapse in turnout among young voters, and a smaller, but still significant, decline among minorities. In both 2010 and 2014, the share of the vote cast by young adults 18-29, a strongly Democratic-leaning group, was fully six percentage points lower than in the presidential race just two years earlier, according to exit polls...

More.

Robert Tombs, The English and Their History

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Robert Tombs, The English and Their History.

Bizarre Police Pursuit (VIDEO)

Really bizarre.

At CBS News 2 Los Angeles, "Bizarre Police Pursuit From O.C. to I.E. Ends With Driver Fleeing on Foot, Passenger Jumping Into Unwitting Couple's Car":

JURUPA VALLEY (CBSLA) — A driver was placed in police custody Monday afternoon after taking police on a three-hour, high-speed pursuit from Anaheim to Riverside County, heading into oncoming traffic at times, with one of his passengers making a bizarre attempt to flee in a different vehicle.

The pursuit began shortly after noon when an Anaheim police officer determined a dark Toyota Camry had a stolen license plate, City News Service reported.

The vehicle got on the eastbound 91 Freeway, reaching up to 100 miles per hour. The driver got onto the El Cajon Pass in Riverside County before turning back towards Riverside proper.

Police twice attempted PIT maneuvers on surface streets with no success.

The male driver ended up in the Jurupa Valley, where police said he changed his shirt, exited the car and ran into a parking lot adjoining an industrial building.

A female passenger then exited the vehicle and got into another dark sedan that happened to be coming out of the parking lot.

A freelance photographer who was covering the pursuit recorded the moment he warned the driver of the second vehicle to stop. “No, that’s not us,” a confused woman in the front passenger seat told the stringer. “I don’t know who she is,” the male driver can be heard saying.

The woman from the first vehicle then jumped out of the back seat...

Bikini Babe Gets Knocked Out During Car Wash

I saw this on Twitter, but not the whole thing.

She fell flat on her face and was out cold.

Via Drunken Stepfather, "Bikini Babe – Knocked the Fuck Out During Car Wash."

Shop Today

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

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BONUS: Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich: A New History.

Democrats' Push to Remove Trump May Lead to Midterm Disaster

Well, that's for sure.

From Jeffrey Toobin, at the New Yorker, "Will the Fervor to Impeach Donald Trump Start a Democratic Civil War?"

The midterms are far from a lock. His autocratic pronouncements only inflame. Be smart and focus. Will the Fervor to Impeach Donald Trump Start a Democratic Civil War? https://t.co/LotVRT03rx

— aemachmedia (@aemachmedia) May 21, 2018

Martha McSally's DACA Flip

This is good, from Caitlin Huey-Burns, at RCP, "McSally's DACA Flip Lays Bare AZ Senate Race Dynamics."

Jennifer Delacruz's Monday Forecast

More cool overcast weather. It's not too bad, actually.

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

Progressives Don't Leave Home Without It

The "Black Card," from Candace Owens, Communications Director for Turning Point USA, for Prager University:

Social Media as Social Disease.

From Instapundit, at USA Today, "People learned to survive disease, we can handle Twitter."

Social Media As Social Disease https://t.co/FSEpFF5z6o via @usatoday

— Instapundit.com (@instapundit) May 19, 2018

Leftist Lies and Slanders Are Slippery Slope

From Kurt Schlichter, at Town Hall, "Liberal Lies and Slanders Are a Slippery Slope to Trouble."

Liberals are nothing but little lying ass bitches.https://t.co/WCcKHRaKuc

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) May 21, 2018

Jennifer Delacruz's Overcast Weather

It's classic June gloom, and it's not even June!

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

Douglas Murray: Europe is Committing Suicide (VIDEO)

I actually laughed out loud watching this video.

Don't get me wrong: It's a fantastic clip. But Murray's like the Vincent Price of political commentary. I wonder if he tries to be so droll and sarcastic. It's great!

And don't miss his book, at Amazon, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam.

Kaya Jones

She's a sweetie.

#PinkHair 💗 don’t care 🤷‍♀️ 🤣 pic.twitter.com/m90w6hnOL5

— Kaya Jones (@KayaJones) May 10, 2018

"I don't know if I'm going to be singing with any groups again or what I'm going to do. But I definitely know that my goal right now is to be that ambassador for the #2A community in the entertainment sector that really isn't spoken for and needs more education." —@KayaJones #NRA pic.twitter.com/hg7buqc2rH

— NRATV (@NRATV) May 14, 2018

Pool time play date with this amazing woman @TheAmyRobbins ❤️🇺🇸❤️ pic.twitter.com/7NEgizxbTH

— Kaya Jones (@KayaJones) May 20, 2018

Justine Ezarik AirPods

She's a clean wench.

Texas School Shooter Dimitrios Pagourtzis Murdered Girl Who Turned Down His Advances

It's horrible.

At LAT, "Texas school shooter killed girl who turned down his advances and embarrassed him in class, her mother says":

NEW: The Santa Fe High School gunman killed a classmate, Shana Fisher, who had turned down his advances, her mother tells us. Shana finally stood up to him and embarrassed him in class, and "a week later he opens fire on everyone he didn't like." https://t.co/clHL0gO6zP

— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) May 20, 2018

As he heard the gunshots approaching down the hall Friday morning, Santa Fe High School student Abel San Miguel, 15, hid with a few classmates in the art class storage closet.

He wasn't sure if he was going to survive. Through the door, he could see the barrel of a shotgun. Then the shooter began shooting through the door, killing at least one student inside, and grazing Abel's back.

When the shooter left the room briefly, Abel and others left the closet and tried to barricade the door. But the shooter pushed it open, spotted a student he knew, and with anger said, "Surprise!" before shooting the student in the chest.

"I'm still trying to process everything," Abel said in an interview.

As more details emerged about the shooting that left 10 people dead and 13 injured at the Houston-area school, the student who authorities said confessed to the attack was being held in isolation Saturday as officials identified the victims.

The family of the 17-year-old suspect, junior Dimitrios Pagourtzis, is "as shocked and confused as anyone else by these events that occurred," according to a statement released to the media.

"We are gratified by the public comments made by other Santa Fe High School students that show Dimitri as we know him: a smart, quiet, sweet boy," the family statement said. "While we remain mostly in the dark about the specifics of yesterday's tragedy, what we have learned from media reports seems incompatible with the boy we love."

One of Pagourtzis' classmates who died in the attack, Shana Fisher, "had 4 months of problems from this boy," her mother, Sadie Rodriguez, wrote in a private message to the Los Angeles Times on Facebook. "He kept making advances on her and she repeatedly told him no."

Pagourtzis continued to get more aggressive, and she finally stood up to him and embarrassed him in class, Rodriguez said. "A week later he opens fire on everyone he didn't like," she wrote. "Shana being the first one." Rodriguez didn't say how she knew her daughter was the first victim.

The gunman repeatedly taunted students during the attack, according to another harrowing account posted to Facebook by one survivor's mother.

After scrambling to escape the shooter's blasts in the art room, Isabelle Van Ness, covered in dust from rounds hitting her classroom walls, could hear the shooter in a next-door classroom yelling, "Woo hoo!" while shooting, according to her mother, Deedra Van Ness.

"The gunman then comes back into their room and they hear him saying … are you dead? Then more shots are fired," Deedra Van Ness wrote. "By this time, cell phones all over the classroom are ringing and he's taunting the kids in the closet asking them … do you think it's for you? do you want to come answer it? Then he proceeds to fire more bullets into the closet and tries to get in."

Police arrived within 10 minutes later as Isabelle hid among the bodies of her classmates, and she could hear the shooter reloading after an "exchange" with police, her mother wrote.

Soon after, the shooter surrendered. "She and her friends had been in the same room with the gunman the ENTIRE TIME," her mother wrote. "As the media announces the names of the confirmed dead, Isabelle falls apart. ... She had prayed that her friends lying around the school were just injured and the confirmation of their deaths was crushing."

The dead included two teachers, Glenda Perkins and Cynthia Tisdale, along with Shana Fisher and seven of her classmates: Kimberly Vaughan, Angelique Ramirez, Christian Riley Garcia, Jared Black, Christopher Jake Stone, Aaron Kyle McLeod and Sabika Sheikh, an exchange student from Pakistan.

Two bombs that Pagourtzis allegedly brought to the school Friday were "intended to be IEDs," improvised explosive devices, but turned out to be "nonfunctional," Galveston County Judge Mark Henry said Saturday.

Pagourtzis, a football player who had allegedly posted images of guns and a T-shirt with the words "Born to kill" on social media in the weeks before the shooting, is being held without bond while facing charges of capital murder and aggravated assault on a public servant.

His schoolmates were allowed to return to parts of the school Saturday to retrieve their abandoned belongings...

More.

Kristin Cavallari Beach Bikini in Tulum

Nice.

At Drunken Stepfather, "KRISTIN CAVALLARI BIKINI OF THE DAY."

BONUS: "BELLA THORNE TITTIES IN A BATHING SUIT OF THE DAY."

Morgan Llywelyn, 1916

Currently reading, among other things.

At Amazon, Morgan Llywelyn, 1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion.

ICYMI: Charles Murray, Coming Apart

*BUMPED.*

A great book, at Amazon, Charles Murray, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010.

Roger Kimball, Saving the Republic

At Amazon, Roger Kimball, Saving the Republic: The Fate of Freedom in the Age of the Administrative State.

Crossfire Hurricane: Obama's F.B.I. Spied on Trump Campaign

It's "bigger than Watergate," but it's not this administration that's in trouble; it's the previous one.

Here's the big story at WaPo, "'Bigger than Watergate': Trump joins push by allies to expose role of an FBI source."

And also, from yesterday at NYT, "A Secret Mission, a Code Name and Anxiety: Inside the Early Days of the F.B.I.'s Trump Investigation." (Also at Memeorandum.)

Still more, from Mollie Hemingway, at the Federalist, "10 Key Takeaways From the New York Times’ Error-Ridden Defense of FBI Spying on Trump Campaign." Still more, at NRO, "Spinning a Crossfire Hurricane: The Times on the FBI’s Trump Investigation."

And most of all, see Kim Strassel, at WSJ, "Was Trump’s Campaign ‘Set Up’?":

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes appeared on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday, where he provided a potentially explosive hint at what’s driving his demand to see documents related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Trump-Russia probe. “If the campaign was somehow set up,” he told the hosts, “I think that would be a problem.”

Or an understatement. Mr. Nunes is still getting stiff-armed by the Justice Department over his subpoena, but this week his efforts did force the stunning admission that the FBI had indeed spied on the Trump campaign. This came in the form of a Thursday New York Times apologia in which government “officials” acknowledged that the bureau had used “at least one” human “informant” to spy on both Carter Page and George Papadopoulos. The Times slipped this mind-bending fact into the middle of an otherwise glowing profile of the noble bureau—and dismissed it as no big deal.

But there’s more to be revealed here, and Mr. Nunes’s “set up” comment points in a certain direction. Getting to the conclusion requires thinking more broadly about events beyond the FBI’s actions.

Think of the 2016 Trump-Russia narrative as two parallel strands—one politics, one law enforcement. The political side involves the actions of Fusion GPS, the Hillary Clinton campaign and Obama officials—all of whom were focused on destroying Donald Trump. The law-enforcement strand involves the FBI—and what methods and evidence it used in its Trump investigation. At some point these strands intersected—and one crucial question is how early that happened...

Keep reading.

1. So a few important points on that new NYT "Hurricane Crossfire" piece. A story that, BTW, all of us following this knew had to be coming. This is DOJ/FBI leakers' attempt to get in front of the facts Nunes is forcing out, to make it not sound so bad. Don't buy it. It's bad.

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 17, 2018

2. Biggest takeaway: Govt "sources" admit that, indeed, the Obama DOJ and FBI spied on the Trump campaign. Spied. (Tho NYT kindly calls spy an "informant.") NYT slips in confirmation far down in story, and makes it out like it isn't a big deal. It is a very big deal.

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 17, 2018

3. In self-serving desire to get a sympathetic story about its actions, DOJ/FBI leakers are willing to provide yet more details about that "top secret" source (namely, that spying was aimed at Page/Papadopoulos)--making all more likely/certain source will be outed. That's on them

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 17, 2018

4. DOJ/FBI (and its leakers) have shredded what little credibility they have in claiming they cannot comply with subpoena. They are willing to provide details to friendly media, but not Congress? Willing to risk very source they claim to need to protect?

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 17, 2018

5. Back in Dec., NYT assured us it was the Papadopoulos-Downer convo that inspired FBI to launch official counterintelligence operation on July 31, 2016. Which was convenient, since it diminished the role of the dossier. However . . .

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 17, 2018

6. Now NYT tells us FBI didn't debrief downer until August 2nd. And Nunes says no "official intelligence" from allies was delivered to FBI about that convo prior to July 31. So how did FBI get Downer details? (Political actors?) And what really did inspire the CI investigation?

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 17, 2018

7. As for whether to believe line that FBI operated soberly/carefully/judiciously in 2016, a main source for this judgment is, um . . .uh . . . Sally Yates. Who was in middle of it all. A bit like asking Putin to reassure that Russia didn't meddle in our election.

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 17, 2018

8. On that, if u r wondering who narrated this story, note paragraphs that assure everybody that hardly anybody in DOJ knew about probe. Oh, and Comey also was given few details. Nobody knew nothin'! (Cuz when u require whole story saying u behaved, it means u know you didn't.)

— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) May 17, 2018