Trump makes a dumb purchase, and they're more than happy to sell it to him

Trump takes ownership of Afghanistan War

After speech, Afghanistan is Trump's war now

Meanwhile the transnational Max Boot is upset that the Boy Scouts love Trump, hate Hillary

Very telling, that.

He must read WaPo tweeter Jenna Johnson here, and NY Magazine here, which omit references to the loud sustained boos by Boy Scouts for Obama but focus instead on the boos for Hillary.

Well, they emphasize what's important to them. Since they are Clinton advocates and Trump opponents and want to make the story a story about Trump's inappropriate partisanship, the fact that Trump was contrasting himself with his predecessor, not Hillary, has to be ignored.

Most stories have been about the boos for Obama.

Here is Boot:

At one point he actually had the boys booing Clinton, a former secretary of State, former first lady and the first female major-party presidential nominee in U.S. history. This is an offense not only against good taste but also against the Boy Scout rule forbidding any political activities in uniform.

As high school grades inflate, SAT scores deflate

Reported here:

Recent findings show that the proportion of high school seniors graduating with an A average — that includes an A-minus or A-plus — has grown sharply over the past generation, even as average SAT scores have fallen.

In 1998, it was 38.9%. By last year, it had grown to 47%.

That’s right: Nearly half of America’s Class of 2016 are A students. Meanwhile, their average SAT score fell from 1,026 to 1,002 on a 1,600-point scale — suggesting that those A's on report cards might be fool's gold.

Wind energy turbines kill 368,000 birds annually, but kitties kill far more

Reported here in early 2015:

Now, federal wildlife officials are cracking down on wind farms caught killing bats and birds. A peer-reviewed study issued last summer estimated turbines kill as many as 368,000 birds annually. ... House cats kill at least 1.4 billion birds annually, and possibly up to 3.7 billion birds, according to a 2013 federal study. And a single natural-gas flare at a liquid natural gas plant in Canada killed an estimated 7,500 birds in a single night.

SECDEF Mad Dog Mattis is mad as a hatter: Imposes mandatory transgender training on the US Army

From the story here:

As part of the Pentagon’s attempt to create an accepting environment for transgenders, the Army held a session Tuesday teaching officers and others how to implement existing military policy, particularly how to “assist soldiers who have a medical diagnosis indicating that gender transition is medically necessary through the gender transition process,” USA Today reports. ...

Conservative leaders have asked Secretary of Defense James Mattis to rescind directives allowing transgenders to serve, as “costly and distracting social engineering” that is standing in the way of combat effectiveness and readiness.

Making Monday Night Football great again: Bocephus to return . . .

Obama and Boehner are gone.

Hank Williams Jr. is BACK!

Story here.

Why weren't bills for Trump to sign lined up like planes on a runway on January 20th?

Glenn Reynolds wants to know, here.

Breitbart is an LLC owned by Larry Solov, the Mercer family, and Andrew Breitbart's widow Susie

Reported here.

USA Today lies about checkpoints being shut down at inaugural

Here:

Small groups of protesters popped up at various security checkpoints across the spectator zones, attempting to block entry. One group, affiliated with Black Lives Matter, chained themselves to metal barricades. But police said no entrances were completely shutdown.

USA Today story says Obama leaves a complex legacy, completely ignores this complexity

That useless rag USA Today says turnout was up 4.7%, missing the revulsion election

"Voter turnout up 4.7% around the country", says that useless rag USA Away. 

The data in the upper Midwest says otherwise.

In Michigan, turnout was 4.7 million, a little lower than in 2012 when 4.8 million showed up. In 2008 5 million did.

In Wisconsin, turnout was 2.9 million vs. 3.1 million in 2012 and 3 million in 2008.

In Pennsylvania 6 million turned out yesterday, the same as in 2008, up slightly from 2012's 5.8 million.

In Ohio there's been a steady decline since 2008 when 5.7 million turned out. In 2012 it fell to 5.6 million and just 5.3 million in Election 2016.

When the final numbers come in, I'll bet we'll see this phenomenon of suppressed turnout in other places as well. And generally speaking, suppressed turnout favors Republicans because Republicans are often more energized, more scrupulous and more dutiful, as was the case yesterday.

What we had here was a revulsion election. People stayed home because they couldn't vote for either candidate. And because the voters found Hillary more intolerable than The Donald, Mr. Trump is our new president. The smoke generated by the ugliness of the battle on the field obscured the fact of troops staying behind in camp.

In the end America chose the rake over the robber, which was the right choice.

But don't confuse it with a sea change.

Trump garners crowds on his own merits, Hillary needs celebs to get hers

Story here in USA Away, a newspaper so thin your parakeet will pee right through it.

What's wrong with America, epitomized by Glenn Harlan Reynolds

He thinks gay libertarian Peter Thiel would be an excellent nominee to the US Supreme Court.

Here.

The libertarian vote is like 1% of the population. LGBTQLSMFT is less than 4% of the population, but there isn't one Protestant on the Supreme Court even though 50% of the country is.  

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson asks "What is Aleppo"?

Well, not a long lost Marx brother.

Story here.

Smartphone poll of 100,000 daily finds Trump walloping Clinton 64 to 36

Story here.

Senator Dan Coats of Indiana tears into Ted Cruz

Quoted here:

“I think what people saw last night is what we have seen in the Senate. No matter how conservative you are, you never can meet Ted’s standard. He only thinks of himself, he doesn’t think about party. He’s a wrecking ball. He’s the most self-centered, narcissistic, pathological liar I’ve ever seen – and you can quote me on that."

Republicans demonstrated increased unity last night as delegates previously pledged to others voted for Donald Trump

Trump, who won 1543 delegates in the primary season, received 1725 votes from the floor as states like Michigan upped their ante from the 25 bound delegates for Trump to 51. Trump increased his support by almost 12%.

Similarly Pennsylvania which had 17 votes bound for Trump and 64 total committed cast 70 for him.

Both states passed on their votes in the roll call in order to allow the New York delegation to put their favored son over the top for the nomination, showing that Michigan and Pennsylvania have New York values, too.

Ted Cruz, who won 559 delegates in the primaries and caucuses, received 475 votes from the floor, 15% fewer than he had won.

Marco Rubio, who had won 165, received 114, 31% fewer.

John Kasich, who had won 161, received 120, 25% fewer.

Ben Carson received 7, Jeb Bush 3 (previously had 4) and Rand Paul 2 (previously had 1).

It appears that 26 votes of the 2472 total delegates were not cast at all (no shows? neverTrumpers? never allocated?). No votes were cast for Fiorina or Huckabee on the floor, each of whom had won one in the primaries.

USA Today says Hillary broke the rules and recklessly disregarded State Department warnings in 2011 as well as the inquiry from the inspector general

Arrogant bitch.

Story "Hillary Clinton broke the rules: Our view" here.

Kasich changed his mind Wednesday morning after losing Reince Priebus' blessing Tuesday night

From the story here:

By Wednesday morning, Kasich appeared to have a full change of heart, when he was scheduled to hold a press conference at Dulles Airport near Washington. Dozens of reporters milled around in the lobby of a private aviation terminal, waiting for Kasich to arrive. As the scheduled time came and went, rumors began swirling. The Ohio governor had not left Columbus and was discussing his future with advisers.

USA Today: Congress had a right to access Hillary Clinton’s emails as part of their investigation regardless of motive

Here:

Nevertheless, members of Congress, like reporters and the public, had a right to access Clinton’s emails as part of their investigation regardless of motive. And were it not for the dogged partisanship of Republicans and the actions of a hacker, Clinton’s private email system might never have come to light.

Nine days after the Benghazi attack, Congress asked for any State Department emails related to the subject. It took two years before Congress was given access to a single email from Clinton’s private account. By then, four House committees and two Senate committees had already issued their reports on the issue.