IN THE MAIL: The Fast Metabolism Diet: Eat More Food and Lose More Weight.
Plus, today only at Amazon: Omron 10 Series Wireless Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor with Cuff that fits Standard and Large Arms (BP786N) with Bluetooth Smart Connectivity, $47.50 (52% off).
And, also today only: Bella 10-Piece Hard Anodized Ceramic Cookware, $69.99 (65% off).
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1188.
OBAMANOMICS: US Productivity Plunges For 3rd Quarter In A Row – Longest Losing Streak Since 1979.
Instapundit readers have known for years that Jimmy Carter was the “best-case scenario” for Barack Obama.
QUESTION ASKED: We COULD Do Worse Than These Two. Right?
HOPENCHANGE COMES TO RUSSIA: Putinism enters a new historic phase.
At the end of July, a reshuffle of senior figures especially in Russia’s regional administration – with the promise of more to come – told us something about President Putin’s current concerns and priorities. It also hints at a new historical metaphor. Putin is a keen student of history and has repeatedly paralleled himself to tough-minded reformers, from modernising tsar Peter the Great to prime minister Peter Stolypin, perhaps the last hope of imperial Russia. Instead, though, Putin now seems to be metamorphosing into Tsar Nicholas I, the unyielding autocrat who viewed his people with disdain and suspicion, and earned the title “Gendarme of Europe” for his attempts to prevent the spread of liberal and democratic ideals.
The reshuffle, described by presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov as “the usual cyclical rotation” saw figures both retiring and being sacked, and a knock-on series of promotions and transfers. To many, the central leitmotif was “the rise of the men in epaulettes” as jobs went to veterans from the security apparatus, especially the Federal Guard Service (FSO), Putin’s personal protectors.
But he makes the troop trains run on time.
PEASANTS AND PITCHFORKS: A Wake-Up Call For Western Elites.
It is easy to get caught in the tidal wave of pessimism that has gripped the West’s chattering classes and op-ed writers. The list of real problems confronting Europe and the United States is long, and getting longer still: slow growth, exploding jihadi terrorism, uncontrolled immigration, the hollowing out of NATO, and the weakening of the European Union. Region by region, the global security equation looks equally menacing, with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) on fire amidst a Sunni-Shi‘a civil war, the fragmentation of Syria, Iraq, and Libya, and fighters flocking to the Islamic State intent on brushing aside the remnants of the Sykes-Picot system. The risk of armed conflict is growing in Asia and Europe, with China and Russia pressing their advantage, while Americans, weary of losses in what is now a 15-year War on Terror, look in vain for a viable strategy. Within the West itself events are approaching an inflection point; the liberal, globalist notions of the past two decades have suddenly (if only in hindsight not unexpectedly) run into a rapidly rising wall of popular resistance.
The forces that are reshaping the erstwhile globalist consensus are not, as critics would have it, simply “populism,” “racism,” or “lower class obscurantism,” but a 21st-century popular rebellion across the democratic West, which—warts and all—is readying itself to imprint the will of the modern demos onto what not so long ago many considered to be a progressively de-nationalized, postmodern consumer society. Steeped in resurgent nationalism, this public wave has crashed into the breach between the notional reality, which maintains that on balance Europe and America are still doing fine, and the perceived reality of high unemployment, high immigration rates, and segmented communities. It is amidst this sense of fragmentation and decline that latter-day peasants on both sides of the ocean are rising up, pitchforks in hand, against an increasingly denationalized aristocracy.
You can, by the way, purchase pitchforks from Amazon.com. With next-day delivery!
SHE CHOSE POORLY. BUT GIVEN HER CURRENT POLL NUMBERS, WHAT DIFFERENCE AT THIS POINT DOES IT REALLY MAKE? Clinton Sought Support of Black Lives Matter, Spurned Law Enforcement Union.
NEW CLINTON EMAIL FIGHT: Bill Clinton’s schedules.
State revealed the existence of the large collection of Bill Clinton schedules after the RNC made an unusual legal move last month, asking a federal judge to declare that the former president’s schedules should be released in their entirety because the former president worked closely with State officials and his post-presidency office is funded with taxpayer dollars. The GOP also pointed to the ethical controversy over the Clinton Foundation soliciting donations abroad while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.
“The record … reflects that State Department officials and Clinton Foundation officials worked essentially hand in glove, coordinating President Clinton’s schedule and whom he would speak with, as well as talking points and even briefings with regard to political ramifications of certain meetings or events,” wrote Jason Torchinsky, an attorney for the RNC. “The electronic calendar records at issue here merely are a function of, and inextricably intertwined with, that coordinated effort with the federal agency officials.”
While the thousands of pages of Bill Clinton’s schedules could provide ample fodder for opposition researchers at the RNC, it’s uncertain whether the GOP will get its hands on many of them before the November election.
You can be sure that a Clinton DOJ would show just as much integrity and impartiality on this matter as the Obama DOJ was in handling the Clinton email saga.
PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: Secret Deal Among AGs to Prosecute Climate Change ‘Deniers’ Challenged in Court. It’s a conspiracy to deprive people of their civil rights.
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MARK PULLIAM: George Will’s Constitution.
SALON: Americans deserve more than an apology for the foreclosure fraud epidemic.
“I lost my home of 30 years to fraudclosure.”
“I have been fighting this bank for over five years now. I am finally losing everything to their fraud.”
“We feel captive in our own home.”
This is a sampling of what I have awakened to practically every day for the past few months, since my book “Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud” came out. Hundreds of people have emailed me, sent me letters, attended my public events, to relate their personal horror stories of foreclosure and dispossession. They come from across America, from different social and economic backgrounds. Some lost everything, and some haven’t given up.
Hey, they don’t call Barack Obama “President Goldman Sachs” for nothing — but is America (including Salon writers) ready for Madam President Goldman Sachs?
HERE’S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE WHEN “PROGRESSIVISM” CROSSES THE END ZONE:
What Bane does to Gotham City in the Dark Knight Rises is a warning for the rest of us, but a how-to economics guide for the left.
IT’S LIKE TRUMP AND HILLARY ARE BOTH TRYING TO LOSE: Orlando terrorist’s father endorses Hillary, on display at rally in Florida. “Apparently, the father of Omar Mateen, the radical Islamic terrorist who committed the deadliest terror attack on American soil since Sept 11, is a big fan of Hillary Clinton. Clinton held a rally in Kissimmee, FL, a suburb of Orlando, the site of June’s terror attack. She began her rally by paying tribute to those who were slaughtered by Mateen while the terrorist’s father, Seddique Mateen, sat right behind her, prominently displayed and in full view of the camera. . . . You’ll remember Clinton-supporter Sateen has ties with the Taliban, has run for president of Afghanistan, produces anti-American YouTube video shows and has suggested that the Pulse nightclub is partially to blame for his son’s murderous rampage.”
By the way, did the FBI ever find Omar Mateen’s wife/accomplice Noor Salman, who they rather casually admitted they “lost” a while back?
Well, 2016 isn’t a great year for America, but it’s certainly a huge one for Matt Drudge:
IT’S COME TO THIS: “You know, it turns out I was actually a better negotiator [with Iran] than John Kerry,” says…Oliver North?
SURPRISE: Negative interest rates might be backfiring.
Policy makers in Europe and Japan have turned to negative rates for the same reason—to stimulate their lackluster economies. Yet the results have left some economists scratching their heads. Instead of opening their wallets, many consumers and businesses are squirreling away more money.
When Ms. Hofmann heard the ECB was knocking rates below zero in June 2014, she considered it “madness” and promptly cut her spending, set aside more money and bought gold. “I now need to save more than before to have enough to retire,” says Ms. Hofmann, 54 years old.
Surely some smart central banker could point to just one example where negative interest rates have produced the intended growth.
I EAGERLY AWAIT PAUL KRUGMAN’S CONDEMNATION OF THIS VILE ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC: Will Smith in Dubai: ‘Embarrassing’ Trump needs to be ‘cleansed out of our country.’
As Scott Adams noted in March, The Media Are Trying To Get Donald Trump Killed. And using the loaded phrase “cleansed out of our country” only increases the odds — but apparently Smith doesn’t care.
BIPARTISAN MEDIA MALFUNCTION:
Shot: The Right-Wing Media Bubble.
Chaser: A New York Times Reporter ‘Fesses Up.
Hangover: Modern journalists are dumb rich kids, says…Tucker Carlson?!
J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS: “Rigged?” 5 Ways the Election Is Under Attack.
If “rigged” means a group of Democrats sit in central command and control the output of voting machines from outer space, no, the election isn’t rigged.
What is really happening is far more dangerous, far more diffuse and far harder to fix than a conspiracy to control voting machines.
The integrity of our elections are suffering from a coordinated multi-million dollar attack on multiple fronts. It’s far more complicated than one centralized high-powered conspiracy to “rig” the election. A more sophisticated understanding of what is happening is essential to combat the real threat to our elections.
Read the whole thing.
ASHE SCHOW: Thoughts On Olympic “Othering.”
I get that this title sounds like something from the Guardian, Jezebel or Vox — something more likely to come from the minds of social justice warriors than from me — but the absence of those other outlets picking up on this is precisely why I’m writing this.
There’s a lot of outrage going around this week over the Chicago Tribune’s decision to congratulate gold medalist Corey Cogdell by mentioning in its headline that she’s the wife of Chicago Bears lineman Mitch Unrein.
Cogdell won that medal on her own merit; it’s just an interesting tidbit that she has a famous husband. I see where the outrage is coming from, but let’s face it, trap shooting isn’t the most popular Olympic sport, so connecting Cogdell to a bigger local sport helps the story.
But there’s a lack of outrage over the way the media are treating Ibtihaj Muhammad, who is competing in fencing. Muhammad was the eighth-ranked saber fencer going into the competition, but merely being talented enough to make the Olympics isn’t good enough. She had to be singled out because she would be the first American athlete to compete wearing a hijab.
Every article about her led with this fact. If the ultimate goal is to normalize such occurrences, calling so much attention to this information is probably not the way to go. It’s saying: “Hey, look at her! She’s different!” It also takes away from her accomplishment.
Well, they’re not doing this because they care about her.
GANGSTER GOVERNMENT: Grand Jury Investigating Powerful, Clinton-Supporting Union for Allegedly Threatening Foes.
Pennsylvania’s attorney general is investigating whether Philadelphia’s most powerful union, a prominent backer of Hillary Clinton, has engaged in threats and intimidation against its foes.
The state-level grand jury investigation of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, first reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer and confirmed to Heat Street by two sources, has been ongoing for at least three months.
On Friday, as part of a separate investigation into the union’s finances and political spending, federal agents raided several locations tied to Local 98 and its boss, John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, collecting truck loads of potential evidence.
Absurd to think that a Hillary ally would engage in thuggish behavior.
WASTING AWAY AGAIN IN AN OBAMAVILLE: “These days, the streets of San Francisco resemble the streets of Calcutta.”
OBAMA IS LEAVING HIS SUCCESSOR A NATIONAL DEBT NIGHTMARE.
Not exactly “unexpectedly,” as this Reason TV video on federal government spending dates to April of 2009:
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