Mort Zuckerman pays his respects to John McLaughlin

Here.

Mort puts his time on The McLaughlin Group at about 24 of the 34 years, but has been notably absent in the last year and otherwise has been more quiet than usual.

The last time I remember him writing much of anything was early in 2013 when he reiterated that America was in actuality experiencing another economic depression.

Toronto Canada is the new crucible for molten salt reactors

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports here:

Canada is now the crucible for molten salt reactors. Terrestrial Energy in Toronto is the most advanced such project in the world with an integral molten salt reactor, and is already pre-licensed. "We can bring our reactor to the commercial market in the 2020s," said the chief executive Simon Irish.

"Once we put a shovel to the ground we can build it in three to four years. The parts can be manufactured on a mass scale.  We believe we can produce power for 40-50 US dollars per megawatt hour," he said.

Vlogger Louis Cole aspires to become the new Walter Duranty, not for The New York Times but for YouTube

Here:

In the description section of one of his North Korea videos, Cole writes, “I’m trying to focus on positive things in the country and combat the purely negative image we see in the Media.” Which, O.K., sure. But as another vlogger shows us in his own video from the DPRK (vloggers seem to be going there en masse), these videos are meant to capture a very carefully curated vision of a country whose human rights abuses are “without parallel in the contemporary world,” according to Human Rights Watch. Cole has, so far, not really made mention of any of that, choosing instead to go for a light tone, oohing and ahhing over abundant food in a country ravaged by hunger.

Real Clear Politics classifies the LA Times/USC poll as a "likely voter" poll, but it isn't

And it is evident to me that none of the other "LV" polls are either. The pollsters ASK if they are likely voters or registered voters, which is different from talking to someone who actually voted in 2014 and 2012. None of these polls appear to be representing the views of exclusively likely voters.

What's even more disturbing, only the Bloomberg and ABC News polls are conducted by telephone, either landline or cell. The other four are conducted online in some way.

The more you look into it, the less confident you become, which would explain why the candidates continue to campaign for your attention and fight like hell. They don't trust the polls either.

From the FAQ, here:

Q: Do you use a likely voter model? 

A: No, the respondents provide us with their own subjective probability of voting and we use that to weight their responses.

Five likely voter polls give Hillary an average advantage of only +3.6 in August, eight registered voter polls +8.9

Like Eleanor Clift, Fred Barnes expresses gratitude for being included in The McLaughlin Group

Here:

I'm grateful to McLaughlin for having been part of it.

Eleanor Clift says goodbye to John McLaughlin, the way it should be done

You should read it, here:

Every issue was deeply researched, and John relished weightier issues like NATO enlargement, making us eat our vegetables before we would get to the easy headlines. ... We will miss his signature phrases, beginning with Issue One, and ending with Bye-Bye. And we will miss the man, who was always a blast to be around. John was an original, and while there are many imitators, he will never be overtaken. He got there first, and he created something that in its own way is as iconic as The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason, a comparison I know John would love.

Why Real Clear Politics shouldn't include the NBC/SM poll in its presidential average

The poll shows Clinton +9 currently.

The poll is conducted online, but if you're a smart person, you've installed an ad-blocker, which means you won't be polled. Hence the poll skews stupid right out of the gate.

The poll is of registered voters, including lots of motor-voters, not of likely voters, and the most likely to vote are 60 years of age and over. In 2012 70% of them turned out, but this poll this week of 15,179 includes just 657 people over  65, or 4.3% of the total. The poll therefore can't be said to reflect the opinion of those most likely to vote.

Here's what it does reflect. In 2012 turnout of people 18-44 averaged about 47%, yet this poll is 46% of that demographic, or 6,920 people, only 3,252 of which are likely to show up in November 2016.

You can make a poll say anything you want by playing games like this.

The NBC/SM poll is trying to shape opinion, not measure it.

Already ridiculed in July, Albuquerque Italian restaurant ups the ante from black olive tapenade to black olives matter T-shirts

Offensive WaPo "obituary" for John McLaughlin lumps him in with his intellectual inferiors to dismiss him

Liberalism prefers processed news

Nixon loyalists remain unforgivable at WaPo.

Erik Wemple, here, a liberal fundamentalist if there ever was one, whom McLaughlin wouldn't have needed five minutes to wither, let alone thirty:

"pugnacious style as a host of a political chat show helped usher in the era of impolite punditry"

"goaded journalists and pundits into moving beyond fact into the argumentative terrain of ideological talking points and rhetorical hyperbole"

"Mr. McLaughlin’s impact can be glimpsed almost any night on cable news channels, for better or worse. ... his show’s staccato approach to wringing opinions from guests previewed the Internet’s addiction to fast and unprocessed news bites."

Obamacare is only attractive to the poorest and sickest, but is "an utter disaster for the working and middle class"

So says Robert Laszewski for CNBC, here:

Obamacare has insured millions of people—particularly in the states that have expanded Medicaid (albeit a currently unsustainable program in its own right) and it has been attractive to the poorest that get bigger subsidies and lower deductibles in the exchanges. But Obamacare has been an utter disaster for the working and middle class that seem willing to buy the unattractive plans only if they are sick and can come out ahead on the deal.

Obama interrupted his vacation yesterday to fundraise for Hillary, but to oversee Louisiana flooding not so much

The Boston Globe didn't even bat an eye.

Tens of thousands of homes are flooded out in Louisiana, but your president has to be a Republican before the news media give a shit

Rod Dreher can only wonder here.

Hey Rod! The media only care when the poor blacks get flooded out. You working and middle class people don't count. And you don't have an advocate in the White House. Brownie is only for the rich (and for the poor only on paper).

The McLaughlin Group is history: John McLaughlin dead at 89

Reported here.

The show was a singular venue for decades to hear weekly the "old right" point of view as understood by Patrick J. Buchanan, long-time friend and associate of John McLaughlin going back to the days of Richard M. Nixon.

Some of those ideas now find expression in the candidacy of Donald John Trump.

Democrats want the Hyde Amendment ended, want your tax dollars to pay for abortions

Story here.

Doofus Joe Biden, VP, exposes the guy with the nuclear codes while saying Trump can't be trusted with them

Here:

“There’s a guy that follows me right back here, has the nuclear codes,” Biden said, turning and pointing. “So God forbid anything happened to the president and I had to make a decision, the codes are with me.” 

Video here.

Hillary Clinton deleted "you have the right to be believed" from website last February, six months later The Hill notices that BuzzFeed has finally noticed

Feminists haven't focused like a laser beam on Hillary's hypocrisy because . . . ?

From The Hill story here:

Clinton tweeted in September [2015] that every sexual assault survivor had "the right to be believed." ... Broaddrick, who claimed Bill Clinton raped her in 1978 when he was serving as Arkansas' attorney general, decided to tweet after hearing Clinton's statements on sexual assault. ... The line from Clinton's website was [reportedly] deleted in February after Broaddrick's [tweet] made headlines [in January 2016].

Reuters/Ipsos has Clinton +6 in early August, but . . .

. . . in early July she was +11.

The New York Times focuses on possible corruption of Paul Manafort, not on the real corruption of Hillary Clinton

Here.

Milwaukeeans volunteer to clean up rioters' mess, Governor Walker calls it "selfless caring" after blacks burn down Indian-owned BP gas station

Yeah, right up there with Jesus dying for our sins, guv'ner.

From the story here:

"I commend the citizens who volunteered in clean-up efforts this morning," Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said. This act of selfless caring sets a powerful example for Milwaukee's youth and the entire community. I join Milwaukee's leaders and citizens in calling for continued peace and prayer."

Nobody is going to call this a hate crime committed by blacks against Indian-Americans, but that's what it was. The gas station has been at the center of controversy since at least July 19th when clerk Bhupinder Sidhu fired shots to disperse juvenile delinquents from his store, some of whom earlier in June had broken windows at the station. 

From that story here:

According to the complaint, Sidhu told investigators shortly after Sherman Park closed at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday night, a large group of juveniles came to the store. An employee attempted to close the entrance to the store -- but couldn't because someone was holding the door open. Sidhu claimed he feared for his safety and his employee's safety -- so he took his loaded Smith & Wesson M&P .40 caliber shield handgun from behind the counter and exited the store. He said he then pointed the handgun in the air, and fired two rounds "in order to try to get people to leave the store." Investigators reviewed surveillance video, which shows Sidhu exiting the store while holding what appears to be a handgun. Sidhu can then be seen raising the gun in the air -- and the crowd can be seen scattering. Sidhu and two others are then seen following the crowd until everyone left the area near the gas station.

Black cop shoots black perp, blacks burn down six Milwaukee businesses anyway, Governor Walker ready to send in the Guard

Walker would have made a good Chief Executive, except for the free-trade and illegal immigration stuff.  Like the Bush Clan, Walker lacks "the vision thing".

From the AP-Obama report, here:

Six businesses were burned and 17 people arrested in violence a few hours after a black police officer shot a black man. Police said the victim was fleeing a traffic stop and was holding a gun when he was shot. ... Walker says he took the step after receiving a request from Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke and talking with Mayor Tom Barrett and the Guard's leader. His announcement says the Guard will be in position to help "upon request."

US Attorney for the Southern District of NY and FBI field offices said to be cooperating in Clinton Foundation investigation

FBI Director James Comey before Congress July 7th would neither confirm nor deny such an investigation of the Clinton Family Crime Foundation exists.

Story here.

Ted Cruz' "very unfavorable" rating hits 52% in Texas

Data here.

Documents released last week implicate Cheryl Mills in covering up Hillary's private e-mail server

From the Daily Beast here:

The top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was told in late 2012 that a non-profit watchdog group had requested information about Clinton’s email, including the number of accounts she used, according to documents released Wednesday. ... [The aide] was alerted to the request, from the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), via an email from a State Department spokesman, Brock Johnson, on Dec. 11, 2012. [The aide] was told that the group had filed a “significant” request seeking “records sufficient to show the number of email accounts of or associated with Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton…” The aide, Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, and other Clinton advisers knew at the time that the secretary was using a private email system to conduct official business. But despite the information request, the State Department told the group that it had found no “responsive” records. “This is evidence that Cheryl Mills covered up Hillary Clinton’s email system,” Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, a conservative group that sued for information about that original 2012 request, said in a statement. “She was aware of the [Freedom of Information Act] request about Clinton’s email accounts and allowed a response to go out that was a plain lie. And you can bet if Cheryl Mills knew about this inquiry, then Hillary Clinton did, too.”

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

Story here.

Police show restraint after rioting in Milwaukee, at least four businesses burn to the ground, alderman says "it may not have been right" but threatens more

Khalif Rainey, the thugs' man in power

Whattaya mean "may", alderman?

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports here:

After an hours-long confrontation with officers, police reported at 10:15 p.m. that a gas station at N. Sherman Blvd. and W. Burleigh St. was set on fire. Police said firefighters could not for a time get close to the blaze because of gunshots.

Later, fires were started at businesses — including a BMO Harris Bank branch, a beauty supply company and O'Reilly Auto Parts stores — near N. 35th and W. Burleigh streets, a grim and emphatic Mayor Tom Barrett said. He spoke at a midnight news conference at the District 3 police station at N. 49th St. and W. Lisbon Ave. ... The mayor said police had "shown an amazing amount of restraint" Saturday evening. ...

“This entire community has sat back and witnessed how Milwaukee, Wis., has become the worst place to live for African-Americans in the entire country,” [Sherman Park Alderman Khalif] Rainey said. “Now this is a warning cry. Where do we go from here? Where do we go as a community from here? Do we continue – continue with the inequities, the injustice, the unemployment, the under-education, that creates these byproducts that we see this evening? … The black people of Milwaukee are tired. They’re tired of living under this oppression. This is their existence. This is their life. This is the life of their children. Now what has happened tonight may have not been right; I’m not justifying that. But no one can deny the fact that there’s problems, racial problems, here in Milwaukee, Wis., that have to be closely, not examined, but rectified. Rectify this immediately. Because if you don’t, this vision of downtown, all of that, you’re one day away. You’re one day away.”

John McLaughlin, whose health appears to have declined markedly since Christmas, fails to appear on this week's McLaughlin Group

Watch it here, but it's uncomfortable without the old boy, who turned 89 in March.

Why it's not a coincidence the polls now favor Hillary

Because Trump touted his poll successes throughout the primaries. So, poll now to make him look like a failure. A simple strategy. Don't measure opinion, shape it!

Pick the target . . . easy, there's only one in this circumstance.

Freeze it . . . attack him from all sides, media, academia, Congress, Hollywood, donors, Democrats, Republican establishment. Keep up constant pressure from every angle.

Personalize it . . . never talk about the issues he talks about, about all the people thronging his appearances, only talk about the man, how "unfit" he is, what a clown he is, how inarticulate, offensive and classless!

Polarize it . . . caricature him as if he didn't belong, like he was beneath us, you know like Mar-a-Lago Club didn't belong in Palm Beach. Treat him like people who work for a living, not like one of us. Accuse his movement of being violent, outside the mainstream, while having your thugs do actual harm to his supporters.

Make him and them feel all alone, like strangers in their own country. 

Bush v Dukakis August 1988

Dukakis 49%

Bush 42%

Trump thanks Gen. Hayden and the fifty for coming forward so everyone can know who the foreign policy fuck-ups are

From Spengler, here, who points out that it's bad enough that the emperor wears no clothes, but the empire has no tailors, either:

Trump responded, “The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess, and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place.” That is exactly correct. He might have added that they are incapable of learning from their mistakes and doomed to repeat them if given the opportunity.

But humorless liberal dipshits really do believe this claptrap that Trump is an ISIS recruiter

Here, last December.

Only dipshit liberals pretend anyone took Trump literally

Hillary: A border fence for me, but not for thee

This ten-footer surrounds Hillary's entire property in New York

Story here.

The 2015 cost of Medicaid expansion for 10 million people: $63.66 billion

As reported here:

In a recent report to Congress, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the cost of expansion was $6,366 per person for 2015, about 49 percent higher than previously estimated. ... An estimated 9 million to 10 million people are covered by the Medicaid expansion, and many of the remaining uninsured are likely to be eligible if their states accept. Most of the new Medicaid recipients are low-income adults.

Anti-Trump Macy's closes 15% of stores (about 100) after sales decline six quarters straight

From the story here:

Neil Saunders, CEO of research firm Conlumino, said the Macy's store closures are "sensible," but largely the result of a "self-inflicted defeat."

Hillary doesn't notice terrorist five feet away

US States ranked by number of public officials convicted of crimes 1998-2007

The co-founders of ISIS

Not a conservative A. Barton Hinkle complains Trump is not a conservative

Here.

What he means is Trump is not a libertarian. To Hinkle, Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois is a "leading intellectual light" of conservatism.

There he goes again, Bogarting that joint.

Just another thing Obama has screwed up

The Hill saves Trump the trouble of compiling an enemies list

Here.

If Rush Limbaugh had done this good of a job defending Trump during the primaries, maybe the GOP would be more unified today

I'm referring to Rush today playing the audios of both Clinton and Biden actually talking about Obama being shot, either during the 2008 primary, in which case Hillary would have been the last man standing, or if Obama came for Biden's guns. 

Bloomberg poll shows Hillary at +6 in August, but in June she was . . .

. . . +12 . . . and +18 in March.

Just words from Hillary: Survivors of sexual assault have the right to be heard, the right to be believed

Unless you're a 12-year old girl from Arkansas, or someone who accused my husband, or . . ..

Video here of some remarks made last September in Iowa, during which she is quoted as saying:

"Today I want to send a message to every survivor of sexual assault," Clinton said. "Don't let anyone silence your voice. You have the right to be heard. You have the right to be believed and we're with you."

In 1975 Hillary Clinton laughed about getting a plea deal for this 12-year old girl's brutal rapist

And Bush-Republicans openly advocate a vote for Hillary?

Kathy Shelton, now 54, quoted in the story here:

A child rape victim says she cannot forgive Hillary Clinton for defending her rapist in court 40 years ago, saying the Democratic presidential candidate attacked her credibility despite knowing that her assailant was guilty – and  later laughed about it in a taped interview. ...

In a lengthy interview with the Daily Mail Online, Shelton said Clinton is 'lying' when she claims to be a lifelong defender of women and girls. ...

'Because after laughing on that tape, [Hillary's] pretty much stuck in knowing that she lied, knowing that it happened to me. And that tape's out there to be listened to by anybody.'

Trump rallies continue to dwarf Hillary rallies, but the left thinks "voter intensity" for the two is about equal, and low

Reported in The Nation, here, for what it's worth:

In 2012, 60 percent of Obama backers supported him “strongly” (the comparable figure for Romney supporters was 38 percent).

You’d be forgiven for thinking that this election has seen voter “intensity” reach new heights. However, a July poll found the level of “strong” support was about equal for both Clinton and Trump—and strikingly low: Pew found in that poll that “fewer than half of both candidates’ supporters said they backed their candidate strongly,” with 45 percent each. The equal proportions suggest intensity is not going to skew the poll results this year.

Look who's talkin': Susan Collins speaks up for decency and for the vulnerable but routinely votes to kill the unborn

CNN

An earlier generation of Americans would have found Susan Collins indecent and downright criminal.

Susan Collins, quoted here:

[R]ejecting the conventions of political correctness is different from showing complete disregard for common decency. Mr. Trump did not stop with shedding the stilted campaign dialogue that often frustrates voters. Instead, he opted for a constant stream of denigrating comments . . .

My conclusion about Mr. Trump’s unsuitability for office is based on his disregard for the precept of treating others with respect, an idea that should transcend politics. Instead, he opts to mock the vulnerable and inflame prejudices by attacking ethnic and religious minorities.

Obama's Veterans Administration frittered away $400 million over many years unsuccessfully installing solar panels while vets waited and died

Story here.

Do you really want a president who has trouble climbing the stairs by herself?

Not to mention can't tell the truth.

Update: WaPo here excuses the incident because it occurred WAY BACK IN FEBRUARY, and SHE JUST SLIPPED ON THE STAIRS.

OK, it's an older photo . . . of an old bag who can't navigate a stairway with railings without help. Same shit, different day.

So Clinton is +8 in the ABC poll in early August, but at the end of June she was +12

Showing once again that Clinton is not surging after the debacle in Philadelphia.

Seven months into 2016, the climate in Grand Rapids, MI, has been 6% warmer and 24% wetter than average, thanks to the now ended El Nino

Average temperature year to date: 49.58 degrees F.

Mean year to date: 46.62.

Departure from normal: +2.96, or +6.3%.

Average of maximum temperatures monthly year to date: 76.28 degrees F.

Mean year to date: 73.57.

Departure from normal: +2.71, or +3.7%.

July had 8 days 90+ degrees. June, 6 days.

Mean annual maximum temperature is 95.

Maximum temperature so far in 2016 is 93.

Average of minimum temperatures monthly year to date: 23.14 degrees F.

Mean year to date: 21.14.

Departure from normal: +2, or +9.5%.

There have been no days below zero so far in 2016.

Mean annual minimum temperature is -7.

Minimum temperature so far in 2016 is 1.

Cooling degree days year to date: 557.

Mean year to date: 423.

Departure from normal: +134, or +31.7%.

Heating degree days year to date (January -- June): 3762.

Mean year to date: 4226.

Departure from normal: -464, or -11%.

Snowfall year to date (January -- June): 55.1 inches.

Mean year to date: 43.3 inches.

Departure from normal: +11.8, or +27.3%.

Rainfall year to date: 23.57 inches.

Mean year to date: 19.69.

Departure from normal: +3.88, or +19.7%.

Very strong El Nino ends with June 2016 as 3 month average through July falls to 0.2 on the index

The El Nino was 15 months long averaging 1.43 on the index, coming right in between the 1997-98 very strong El Nino which was 13 months long and averaged 1.56 on the index and the 1982-83 VSE which was 15 months long and averaged 1.33.

Gold Star mom thinks it's OK for the Khans to politicize their son's sacrifice and Trump just has to take it

From the story here:

Kristine Schellhaas, the wife of a Marine and author of "15 Years of War," said many people "love Trump for his brash, call-it-as-he-sees-it rhetoric, but this time, Trump’s gone too far in the eyes of the military members and their families."  

"As a mother who lost her son, I know the feeling of being unable to talk about his loss. I too have felt like Mrs. Khan, unable to find the words to describe the chasm in my heart that will never heal. To set her up and ridicule her as a Gold Star mom is cruel," she said.

  

"This isn’t about being Republican or Democrat, it’s about being a human being with a moral compass. Trump has gone too far and he’s lost a lot of military supporters because of it. He owes the Gold Star community and Khan family an apology," she said.   

The white vote decreased by 2 million 2008-2012

Fewer than 500,000 votes total from four states, Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire, kept Romney from victory in 2012.

From the story here:

. . . Trump might need a smaller surge of 3 million white men to show up at the polls.

That’s not out of the question, considering that the white vote decreased by 2 million voters between 2008 and 2012 — a drop analysts attributed to Romney’s lack of appeal with the working class. 

Republicans say the drop-off in white working class voters was the worst in deep red states that Romney won easily, but it also affected the tally in Ohio, a pivotal battleground.

Trump caves to the establishment, endorses Paul Ryan of Wisconsin

Story here.

Next time you need money, Donald, ask Paul. He pays for the $400 bottles of wine at dinner, mine cost $4.

Good luck with that!

The LA Times is worried Obama will finish his term without an Authorization for Use of Military Force in Libya against ISIS

For the LA Times the appearance of tyranny after two years of executive action is unacceptable while the fact of it is unmentionable.

Not discussed here.  

Clinton is +7 in IBD poll, same as she was in April . . .

. . . but she was +12 in March.

Ex-Republican libertarians are obsessed with screws and dicks

Hey Reince Priebus, the House Freedom Caucus won't endorse Paul Ryan either, so lay off the Donald

From the story here:

Not a single member of House Freedom Caucus leadership opted to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan in his contentious August 9 primary race against Wisconsin businessman Paul Nehlen.

Breitbart News reached out to House Freedom Caucus leadership board members and caucus spokesmen including Reps. Jim Jordan, Mick Mulvaney, Mark Meadows, Steve Pearce, Jeff Duncan, John Fleming, Matt Salmon, Scott Garrett, and Raul Labrador.

Breitbart News asked the members multiple times whether they planned to make an endorsement in the race. Not a single member chose to endorse Ryan.

Hillary Clinton has the billionaire vote all sewed up, full steam ahead for the crony capitalist status quo

Just a reminder about the polls rocking the nation to start August 1988

Dukakis: 54%

Bush: 37%

Hey Levin, your either "with us" or "against us" tyrant was George Bush

Here.

So Clinton is +3 in the Economist poll to begin August

Over the 4th of July she was +5.

So Clinton is +4 in the Reuters poll in early August

In the same poll over the 4th of July she was +11.

So Clinton is +10 in the FOX poll to begin August

She was +11 in the same poll in March.

So Clinton is +15 in the McClatchy poll in August 2016

A year ago in the same poll she was +16.

So Clinton is +9 in the NBC poll in August

She was +11 in it in April.

Hillary is a total and complete dipshit, calls for raising taxes on the middle class

The story here has the video, and says it must have been a slip of the tongue.

Uh huh.

Booted from committee by Boehner, now voters boot anti-Trumper Rep. Tim Huelskamp entirely

Former House Speaker John Boehner famously booted Freedom Caucus members Tim Huelskamp, Justin Amash, Walter Jones and David Schweikert from House committees late in 2012 for not cooperating with leadership.

Now voters in Kansas have booted Huelskamp entirely by defeating him in his Republican primary. The three-term congressman lost to a challenger by 13 points and 13,500 votes.

Politico reports that the US Chamber of Commerce and the Ricketts family spent heavily to defeat Huelskamp, who had the temerity to vote against several versions of farming legislation which were more important to Kansas voters than the ideological reasons Huelskamp gave.

The same ideological reasons made Huelskamp anti-Trump, but that did him no good with the also anti-Trump Ricketts family.

Michigan primary turnout yesterday was 19.1% of registered voters

According to the Michigan Secretary of State, 1.405 million votes were cast in primary races yesterday out of 7.36 million registered through the end of July, just 56% of those cast in March.

2.5 million turned out on March 8th in the presidential primary, about 34% of registered voters, smashing an all-time record for a presidential primary set in 1972 at 1.9 million. In excess of 1.33 million of those 2.5 million votes in March were cast for Republicans vying for the presidential nomination finally secured by Donald Trump after Ted Cruz lost in Indiana.

In presidential elections since 1972, turnout nationwide has averaged 74% of those registered but just 53% of the voting age population.

Obama trades cash for Americans held by Iran, but Trump is unfit to be president

That didn't take long: Brad Marshall is out at the DNC along with Communications Director Luis Miranda

Reported here:

The CEO of the DNC, Amy Dacey, is stepping down, as are communications director Luis Miranda and chief financial officer Brad Marshall, the DNC announced in a statement.

Tyler Cowen, soulless libertarian, epitomizes what's wrong with America, thinks there's a positive side to Chinese cheating and slave labor which must be considered

Here:

I expected to hate [Peter Navarro's] "Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World," but instead I found it to be an intelligent discussion of the problems likely to result from a more assertive China. That said, Navarro does not come close to demonstrating his opening prediction that future war with China is “very likely.” In contrast, his "The Coming China Wars" is mostly a series of emotional diatribes against the Chinese government, opening with charges of cheating and slave labor and never much considering the positive side of Chinese economic growth.

DNC's CEO Amy Dacey resigns, when's CFO Brad Marshall going to go?

From the story here:

In one widely criticized leaked email, DNC CFO Brad Marshall appears to write about a plan to question Sanders’s religion at a campaign event in Kentucky or West Virginia. Dacey wrote “AMEN” in response. 

Limbaugh renews contract, supposedly takes pay cut

Story here.

Republican coward won't face the voters: Rep. Richard Hanna is retiring, announces he'll vote for Hillary

It's Hillary who's thick as thieves with the Russians, not Donald Trump

From the story here:

While Clinton was in charge at the State Department, the U.S. recruited a bunch of U.S. high-tech powerhouses -- including Google, Cisco and Intel -- to take part in the [high tech Skolkovo] project. Of the 28 companies from the U.S., Europe and Russia that took part, 17 were donors to the Clinton Foundation or paid for Bill Clinton to give speeches.

It's yet another stunning example of the Clinton Foundation's growing list of conflicts of interest, suggesting that Hillary used the State Department's offices to line her family's pockets through the Clinton Foundation. Don't forget that, with her email carelessness on her home-brew server during her tenure as secretary of state, Hillary has already exposed the United States' most secret information to the Russian government. As radio talk show host and law professor Hugh Hewitt noted Monday: "Hillary is already a Putin pawn."

Fact-checker finds Hillary lied about wheelchair accessibility in New Bedford, MA, in 1973 to embellish her early image

Detailed here.

Hillary pops to +9 in CNN poll with convention bounce, but was +13 in it to start May

Trump was +3 in the poll last week.

That's some fickle sample CNN surveys.

William Binney says the NSA has all Hillary's e-mails, including the missing 30,000

Story here.

Hey Democrat idiots, you should have picked Chafee, Hillary voted for that damn Iraq war that killed the Khans' kid!

Hillary is an enthusiast for REGULATING the Bill of Rights, not for the rights themselves

Here:

[L]ike every other of our rights, our First Amendment rights, every right that we have is open to and even subject to reasonable regulations.  

It all depends on what the meaning of reasonable is.

Clinton adds lie upon lie, claims on the weekend Comey said she was truthful while Comey testified Clinton made untrue statements

With Chris Wallace, here.

Then she blames others, in typical Obama fashion:

I take classification seriously. I relied on and had every reason to rely on the judgments of the professionals with whom I worked. And so, in retrospect, maybe some people are saying, well, among those 300 people, they made the wrong call. 

At the time, there was no reason in my view to doubt the professionalism and the determination by the people who work every single day on behalf of our country.

Clinton gets 7-point convention bump in CBS poll back to +6 as in June and May, but was +10 in April and March

The Real Clear Politics average presently has Clinton at +2.2. The average margin of error of six of the most recent polls is 3.4. 

Clinton gets one-point bump in PPP poll, PPP calls this "much more positive"

Here.

She's at +5 now but she was at +7 in the spring.

Where's the love for this nothing burger, man?

Hillary Clinton is a clean energy CRACKPOT

Hillary Clinton said today in Johnstown, PA, here:

"We're going to install half a billion solar panels and generate enough clean energy to power every home in America within 10 years."

Oh where oh where to begin?

Your average residential customer used 911 kWh/month in 2014.

Where I live where the sun gives me about 4 to 4.5 sun hours per day, this means I'd need a 9kw system.

A complete do-it-yourself system (!) of that size will cost me $17,600! (And let's not even mention all the things that will not do for me that the current grid does).

But guess what? It's composed of 36 PANELS!

500 million panels divided by 36 yields just south of 14 million homes equipped like mine.

But in 2014 there were almost 134 million households, so 120 million of you are OUT OF LUCK!

Meanwhile the cost for the lucky 13.8 million is about $243 billion, which I'm sure Hillary will make Donald Trump pay for.

Solar power still accounts for just 1.07% of total US electricity in 2016 despite Barack Obama's many promises to expand it, about 43.2 TWh using the most generous assumptions.

Residential customers alone consumed 1,407.2 TWh of electricity in 2014, about 34% of total 2014 consumption.

To come close to doing with solar what Hillary Clinton promised today would cost well in excess of $2 trillion.

Not. Gonna. Happen. Ever. 

You'd think by now Rush Limbaugh would have connected last night's Democrat "patriotism" to Rahm Emanuel's 2006 strategy

In 2006 Rahm Emanuel successfully recruited "conservatives" to run for Congress and wrested control of the House away from Republicans by running them as pro-lifers and fiscal conservatives in competitive districts. The strategy worked and set the stage for the failure of the Bush administration and the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

The sudden eruption of overt patriotism at the Democrat convention this week after Republican criticisms should worry the Trump campaign. Lyin' Ted is history. Now it's Lyin' Hillary, not just about her e-mails and Benghazi, but now about her love of country.

They're trying to fool the country again. And you know the saying about foolin' some of the people . . . some of the people is all it takes.

GDP "anomalies" have been showing since 2011 that "the US economy is in serious, long-term trouble"

Jeffrey Snider, here:

The US economy is in serious, long-term trouble. We knew that very well by the volatile nature of GDP almost from the start (the big negative in Q1 2011, for example). Because orthodox economics is entirely obsessed with the economy that “should be”, it favors smoothing out what is truly pertinent texture because it isn’t directly cyclical by implication. What the mainstream needs is not to try to turn statistics into “ideal” numbers, but to actually see them for what they represent especially when they stray into unexpected ranges. From that perspective, weak quarters were not “anomalies” to be dismissed in a fit of confirmation bias, but rather warnings that actually explain how we got here and why everything from economists, especially“overheating”, was unlikely from the start.

Population is up 22 million since 2007, but Obama's added only 1.7 million extra full-time jobs in 9 years!

After 30 pathetic quarters Obama GDP lags Bush GDP by 35%

Bush grew current dollar GDP by 41.5% after 30 quarters. Obama has grown GDP by just 26.7%.

Bush GDP grew by $4.34 trillion while Obama GDP grew by $3.89 trillion over the comparable periods.

Current dollar GDP in the last three years has been growing by an average of $596 billion year over year. With two quarters to go and if that average continues to obtain, Obama GDP will grow by $4.2 trillion total, or 29%.

Bush GDP finished up 39%.

Obama GDP is thus likely to end up lagging Bush GDP by over 25% in the final analysis.

Under Bill Clinton current dollar GDP grew by $3.77 trillion or 56%.

GDP bombs: 1.2% in 2Q2016 vs. 2.6% predicted, 1Q dialed back to 0.8% from 1.1%

Steve King, the man behind Ted Cruz in Iowa, actually sticks up for whitey

Maybe I've been too hard on the guy.

Story here.

Michael Savage is an idiot, says for the average American the economy's doing just fine

Wealth insulates this book-selling jibber-jabberer with a microphone from the facts, because he has no incentive to look into them.

Incomes are flat since January 2000, housing and other hard assets are sky high and out of reach for 90% of individual wage earners. Full-time jobs are barely 2.75 million higher in number today than they were in 2007. This fool doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

Don't worry, though, tomorrow the economy will be terrible, and he might even notice because all he does is follow the headlines.

GDP revisions come out in the morning at 0830 hours, Eastern. That should give him plenty of time to think about it, being on the Left coast as he is.

But will he?

Hypocrites of the Revolution: Same as it ever was

She's ready . . . to suck your blood

Democrat National Committee National Finance Director Jordan Kaplan: I love you too, but, you know, not like THAT!

Trump's smart campaign is hard at work in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio

The Trump campaign is deploying Mike Pence to Grand Rapids and Novi in Michigan today and tomorrow, and Waukesha, Wisconsin tomorrow.

Trump himself is in Toledo, Ohio today.

West Michigan and Wisconsin were Cruz country in the primary season, places where a traditional conservative like Mike Pence will get a more positive response.