A TALE OF TWO TAPES: Teen Cruz and Terror-Coddler Obama.

THE UNCANNY PARALLELS BETWEEN Donald Trump and FDR. “Imagine a U.S. president who is bombastic, egotistical, and just a little racist. He worries opening the borders will mean an influx of undesirables. He implements capricious executive orders, and seems more concerned with his own power than with the Constitution. He’s often called a fascist by people who know what the term means. No, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”

CLINTON CAMPAIGN CASH QUERY QUASHED: MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asks about fundraising, gets the runaround.

Mitchell asked Brian Fallon why Clinton is doing a fundraiser in Philadelphia in the critical final days before the Iowa causes on Feb. 1. Clinton was originally slated to also have one in New York, but The Intercept reported that had been postponed until Feb. 16.

Mitchell noted Clinton trails Sanders in a Quinnipiac Iowa poll, suggesting Clinton might be “cutting it a little close.”

“Does she need the money because it’s now going to be a longer race than she had anticipated?” Mitchell asked.

“Oh, we’ve always planned for a long race, Andrea, and I don’t think we’re going to have any problem raising the resources we need to contest this nomination as far as it goes, but there’s also going to be other meetings that will probably be read out later in the day that she’s doing today,” Fallon said. “But, so, it’s not all fundraising, Andrea. But yeah, the realities of fundraising are what they are, but we’re ready for a long nomination fight, if necessary, but she’s still in Iowa every day this week.”

Clinton ran an expensive and top-heavy campaign in 2008, and nearly went broke in the early running, trying unsuccessfully to fend off the challenge from Senator Barack Obama. She’s running another expensive and top-heavy campaign in 2016, only this time the challenge comes from an elderly and almost-unknown self-avowed “Democratic Socialist” from tiny Vermont.

Given her political experience and proven fundraising skills, the way Clinton lurches from one unnecessary crisis to another should give voters pause about how she’d govern the country.

IS BERNIE SANDERS PLAYING OLD-FASHIONED POSTAL PORK BARREL POLITICS? He’s got a Senate hold on five presidential nominations to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors. That means the three people now left on the 11-member board are running the Post Office. Maybe the fact Bernie opposes a Post Office plan to close one of Vermont’s two big postal processing centers has something to do with his holds? Ethan Barton of the Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group connects the letters, uh, the dots.

AND CHILDREN OF MEN WASN’T 12 MONKEYS. BUT STILL. White House: Zika virus is not Ebola.

The Obama administration is looking to ease public fears over the Zika virus as it becomes increasingly likely that the mosquito-borne disease will spread to the U.S.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday that federal officials are planning a “conspicuous, concerted effort” to communicate the risks of the disease, making clear that it poses a far different — and less severe — threat than the recent Ebola epidemic.

While both viruses had a rapid spread, the Ebola virus can be fatal for anyone who becomes infected, while the Zika virus is most dangerous to women who are pregnant. Healthy, non-pregnant adults who contract the Zika virus will encounter symptoms like a “mild form of dengue fever,” Earnest said.

“Certainly the risk to pregnant women and women who may become pregnant is serious. But it’s also important for people to understand, if you’re a man, or you’re not pregnant, that the impact of the virus is relatively mild,” Earnest said. “We want to make sure people are properly educated about the risks of this virus.”

The outreach efforts on the Zika virus could help the administration avoid the panic caused by the Ebola virus’s spread into the U.S. in fall 2014. That disease, which is easily spread through human contact, has killed more than 11,000 people, nearly all in three small West African nations.

I mean, yes, it’s too early to panic. But when else have we had an entire country tell its women not to get pregnant for two years?

But what was troubling about Ebola was mostly the bumbling government response. Will they do better this time?

UPDATE: From the comments:

Ignoring pregnant men and men who may become pregnant? Someone needs to troll Josh Earnest about his transphobia. “Down with the gender binary!”

Heh.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Hundreds of DHS badges, guns, cell phones lost or stolen since 2012. “The missing badges and guns suggest a shocking lack of security from federal law enforcement officers and represent a significant security risk, experts say.” Ya think?

MAKE THE GREAT SOCIETY GREAT AGAIN! “Can you recall Trump ever talking at length about making the government smaller? He accused Republicans of ‘attacking Social Security — the Republicans — they’re attacking Medicare and Medicaid’ and he praised the infrastructure spending in the stimulus. His health-care plan is, ‘Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now. I would make a deal with existing hospitals to take care of people. The government’s gonna pay for it.’ Why do we need that in the Republican presidential nominee? We already get that from the Democratic nominee.”

Related: Trump Tells MSNBC He Has Great Relationships with Pelosi and Reid and He Will Make Deals with Democrats.

More: Harry Reid Recalls ‘Good Old Days’ When Trump ‘Did a Fundraiser or Two for Me.’

ROGER SIMON: Fox News Needs a Chill Pill before Thursday’s Debate.

WHY DONALD TRUMP AND BERNIE SANDERS ARE SURGING: “For many, the predominant feeling is pessimism rather than anger. Attend a Trump rally or a Sanders rally, and you’ll see less anger than excitement. They’re excited because they think they’ve found someone who stands for them, and with them. And the clearest sign of standing with them: declaring that the game is rigged and that America is a mess. This pessimism sounds odd inside the Beltway, and among most Americans with college or graduate degrees. Most politicians, in both parties, operate in circles where the American Dream is alive and well. And if the game is rigged, it’s rigged in their favor.”

IF IT’S A LEFTY TALKING POINT, ODDS ARE GOOD THAT IT’S A FRAUD: The ‘Tampon Tax’ Fraud:

Maybe this makes me a traitor to my sex, but I support the tampon tax.

Mostly because it’s not actually a tampon tax.

For those unaware, “tampon tax” is shorthand for the fact that menstrual products are subject to sales taxes in most states, even though other products considered necessities (such as food and medicine) are often exempted.

In recent months, this has spawned a legion of articles suggesting that squeamish, old, predominantly male politicians are punishing half of humanity for the crime of having a period. Some offer stories about poor women who say “tampon taxes” are cutting into money they desperately need for groceries or other bills.

The issue has gained steam on the left, partly because it fits neatly into both the “war on women” and “war on the poor” narratives. Protests have erupted across the United States and abroad; bills have been introduced in state legislatures around the country, and a change.org petition gathered more than 40,000 signatures. Activists have already logged wins in Canada and France.

Last week, even President Obama got drawn into the battle. …

[I]t’s highly misleading to call the taxes that tampons are subject to “tampon taxes.” To my knowledge, no jurisdiction has a tampon-specific tax, as it might an alcohol or yacht tax. …

They lie, because if they told the truth people wouldn’t support them. And they use vicious racial and sexist stereotypes because that’s how Democrats have traditionally rolled.

FASTER, PLEASE: We are witnessing the end of the House of Clinton.

IDEALLY, EVERY TIME SOMEONE IN THE MSM BRINGS UP THE TOPIC: Another Environmentalist Doomsday Clock Expires, When Can We Laugh?

Do not miss the Reefer Madness-esque 2008 Good Morning America video forecasting CLIMATE APOCALYPSE 2015. “By the end of the clip I was expecting to see the esteemed doctors Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, and Ray Stantz step forward to predict, ‘Rivers and Seas boiling!’ ‘Forty years of darkness!’ And of course the ultimate disasters: ‘Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together . . . Mass hysteria!’

At this point, I trust the Ghostbusters’ scientific methods more than I do those trotted out by the DNC-MSM.

TAKING WISDOM FROM A 14 YEAR OLD IS LIKE DRINKING FROM THE TOILET BOWL: ‘Girl Meets World’ Star Might Want to Meet a Biology Textbook.

DARWIN AWARD WORTHY: The New Defense for Criminal Activity: We Did It To Save the Planet!

EUROPE USED TO BE A SAFE ZONE:A ‘Safe Zone’ in Cologne.

THIS IS MY SHOCKED FACE: Facebook is Run by SJWs.

OBAMA AND KERRY GIVE IRAN THEIR LUNCH MONEY: Post-sanctions Iran rakes in the dough — and still slaps America.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: Women and Science Fiction—So What Am I, Chopped Liver?

A VIEW OF THE CIRCLING HYENAS: After Abbas: The coming Palestinian bloodbath.

I DON’T THINK IT’S THAT GREAT A DANGER: that said, we should bring back DDT.  We should have done it long ago.  We should never have outlawed it.  The only silent spring is the millions of children dead of malaria throughout the world. The CDC is brushing off the Zika virus.

IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Hundreds of DHS badges, guns, cell phones lost or stolen since 2012.

DESECRATING THE CLASSICS ON THE ALTAR OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: Do you ever wonder, should we survive the Crazy Years whether the future generations will despise us or REALLY despise us?  ‘Anne of Green Gables’ Gets the Politically Correct Remake Treatment.

THE COUNTRY IS IN THE BEST OF HANDS: Clinton Chief Of Staff Lost Her Personal Blackberry, Which Contained Classified Emails.

AND SPEAKING OF STACEY MCCAIN: Democrats, Feminists and Other Liars.

RUNNING AROUND THE SUPREME COURT: California AG Threatens Non-Profit Donors’ First Amendment Rights.