Trump campaign says Nyet to FOX debate which Limbaugh said Trump was only goosing for more eyeballs

Trump will lose nothing by not participating.

The last Democrat debate had about 10.2 million viewers, and the last Republican debate about 11.1 million. The shine is off.

The debates have served their purpose for Trump, and so has "conservative" talk radio.

Look for Trump to open up a new front in the campaign without them, except maybe for Michael Savage on whose show Trump appeared today, and maybe Rush's show.

Trump's campaign announced he was "definitely not" participating in the FOX debate, as reported here in WaPo.

Limbaugh predicted otherwise today, here:

Now, let me get a show of hands in there.  I got three people here.  Could have been on the Texas grand jury, for all I know.  How many of you think Trump is going show up at the debate on Fox? 

All three think he's gonna show up.  Exactly.  Exactly right.  This is called hyping the audience.  This is called creating an even larger audience than Fox got when they had their 25 million or 24 million, whatever it was.  There's no question he's gonna show up.  Well, there might be a question.  

New study says trade with China caused severe permanent harm to American workers

From Noah Smith in "Free Trade With China Wasn't Such a Great Idea for the U.S." for BloombergView, who says the public has been exactly right about the consequences of trade with China:

The study shows that increased trade with China caused severe and permanent harm to many American workers:

Adjustment in local labor markets is remarkably slow, with wages and labor-force participation rates remaining depressed and unemployment rates remaining elevated for at least a full decade after the China trade shock commences. Exposed workers experience greater job churning and reduced lifetime income. At the national level, employment has fallen in U.S. industries more exposed to import competition...but offsetting employment gains in other industries have yet to materialize.

... [T]he public might have been wrong about free trade in the 1980s and 1990s, but things have changed. Popular opinion seems to be exactly right about the effect of trade with China -- it has killed jobs and damaged the lives of many, many Americans. Economists may blithely declare that free trade is wonderful, but our best researchers have now shown that public misgivings about these smooth assurances have been completely justified.

This election season remember Mark Levin isn't a Reaganite but a Bush preemptive war advocate

As recalled here:

Lesson not learned, Levin writes approvingly [in Liberty and Tyranny] of what, by all rights, should be the most discredited part of the Bush doctrine:

[A] defensive foreign policy does not exclude the necessity of preemptive action… there are occasions when America has suffered grievously, including on 9/11, for failing to act preemptively.

Obama's poor make an emotional appearance at Iowa Democrat town hall, woman speaks of her shame

From the story here:

SANDERS: I want to hear what it is like if people, know people or themselves, what is it like to live on $12,000 a year, $10,000 a year on Social Security. We’ve got a mic right here? OK. Hold that mic close to you, please.

WOMAN: I’ve been living on probably less than that for a long time, because of disabilities. (Crying) It’s so hard to do anything to pay your bills. You’re ashamed all the time… When you can’t buy presents for your children, it’s really, really, really hard. And I worked 3, 4, 5 jobs sometimes, always minimum wage. I have a degree. I’m divorced, and it’s just, I’m waiting for disability to come through, so my parents have to support me.

Believe it or not, pick any level in $5,000 increments all the way up the income ladder starting at zero and you will see that there is a smaller percentage of Americans making that income in 2014 than in 2007 at every single one, with just a very few exceptions starting after the 99.992 percentile where fewer than 15,000 Americans fight over incomes over $4 million per year. The percentage of people making any given income is smaller in 2014 than in 2007 with the exception of the very highest earners.

Everything has shrunk under Barack Obama, except his ego.

We all have something to be ashamed about, not just the poor. 

Boston Herald poll has Trump surging 7 points in New Hampshire since December 17th, lead up by 35%

Trump climbs 2 points to 41% in latest CNN poll, Cruz climbs 1 point, Rubio drops 2, Carson plunges 4

Quinnipiac poll shows no change for Trump and Cruz in Iowa January 10-24, post-Palin endorsement

Laugh of the day: Tom DeLay says Donald Trump is a novice who needs to learn from first term novices Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz

Here in Trump's Liberty U Performance Was Insulting to Christians Everywhere:

'Is Donald Trump a "novice" Christian and "novice" conservative? "Know those who labor among you," says First Thessalonians 5:12. Do evangelical and Catholic Christians, along with conservatives in general really know Donald Trump? ... Trump would do well to learn from Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and other candidates who speak evangelical Christianity with fluent ease because they really do have God deep in their lives, and not just as a political facade.'

Memo to DeLay: Trump is a mainstream Presbyterian, not an evangelical, who incidentally has dominated the race since he entered it while the novices from the Senate lag far behind him.

Hillary tells the voters to finish their shopping, but she's the empty you have to return to the store

Larry Kudlow to decide by the end of February whether to run against Senator Blumenthal in Connecticut

The Connecticut Mirror reports here:

For now, Kudlow is coy about his plans, saying he’ll “put out [his announcement] by the end of February.”

“It’s a complicated process,” he said. “There are a lot of issues involved." He and his wife Judith, he said, "are consulting a lot of people.”

Joni Ernst non-endorses endorses Marco Rubio

Here.

Joni obviously wants to bask in some of that love The Des Moines Register just showered on Rubio by endorsing him.

Politics.

Watch out for Obama recess appointments: Congress not in session until February 1 due to winter storm

Story here.

Trump surges in IOWA in the last two weeks in the FOX poll, Mr. Hannity: from Cruz +4 to Trump +11

Trump has surged in Iowa at the expense of Cruz (4), Rubio (3), Carson (2) and Bush (3)

Latest FOX poll in New Hampshire shows little movement, Trump remains solidly in first: No "surge" for Kasich Mr. Hannity

In New Hampshire Trump's lead in the FOX poll has fallen by just 1 point in the last two weeks

Harvard Lawyer: So the Oath of Office doesn't just roll off the lips of Mr. Constitution, Senator Ted Cruz

“What is the oath of office that you have to take?” Beck asked Cruz after the Texas Senator joined him on stage after Beck’s more-than-half-hour-long speech endorsing Cruz. ...

“I pledge to honor and defend the Constitution of the United States of America,” Cruz replied.

More here.

Ted Cruz, separated at birth hallelujah edition

Trump and Cruz basically unchanged in latest FOX poll, Christie and Kasich up a little at the expense of Rubio and Carson

The new way to avoid the future draft

Just get one of these.

Story here.

Donald Trump: Sam Francis' revenge

Michael Brendan Dougherty here.  Sam Francis here.

"Capitalism is notorious for demanding cheap labor to undercut the cost of native workers." -- Sam Francis

Hannity's political correctness is showing: Kasich is TANKING in New Hampshire, not surging

Kasich just went from 20% to 6% in the latest poll in New Hampshire. That's surging . . . down the toilet.

Trump's attacks on Cruz in December struck Rush Limbaugh as "Democrat", but we had narry a word today criticizing National Review's cooperation with Politico against Trump

Here was Limbaugh in mid-December:

'But even people who are not particularly aligned with Cruz on the right have gotta be curious about this because this is no different than what the media would say about Ted Cruz.  This is no different than what the Democrat Party would say.  I mean, this is what the Republican establishment would say, for crying out loud.  I mean, this is akin to saying, "I'm the guy who can cross the aisle and work with the other side."  That hasn't been the way Trump has come off up 'til now.  He's not positioned that way.'

National Review provided its anti-Trump issue in advance to Politico, for whom Rich Lowry has written a regular column for many years.

So who's crossing the aisle now to work with the opposition? Who's adopting the methods of the left?

Remember Republican Lowell Weicker losing to Democrat Joe Lieberman in 1988 because of National Review's overt support of Lieberman?

Remember Jeffrey Hart et al. voting for Obama?

Pat Buchanan and Phyllis Schlafly have both joined Laura Ingraham on her show so far today addressing the excommunication of Donald Trump by National Review

Phyllis Schlafly said she's never recognized National Review's authority on conservatism.

She pointed out that the magazine was never any help in her long battle to stop the Equal Rights Amendment.

And she also pointed out that William F. Buckley Jr. was for giving the Panama Canal to Panama, which most conservatives of the time opposed. 

Alt Right Edward from New York Explains Donald Trump to Rush Limbaugh

From yesterday's transcript here:

CALLER:  Hey, Rush.  Longtime listener, first-time caller.  I'm in my twenties, and I am a Trump supporter, and I guess I'm also a member of what people are calling the alt right.  And I just wanted to, like, explain for maybe a lot of your listeners why Donald Trump is so popular, despite the consternation of many in the conservative movement and the Republican Party.  And just really simply, the Democrat Party for the past half century has been openly the party of the fringes, right?  The party of disaffected minority voters, black, Mexican immigrants, single women, feminists, all these things, homosexuals in the past, you know, ten years.  And the Republican Party, whether it wants to admit this or not, has become the de facto party of white men.  The only meaningful difference, though, is that the Republican Party is not allowed to appeal to its own constituency, while the Democrat Party obviously does nothing but appeal to its own constituents.  So when you look at the political scene in America like this, Donald Trump not only becomes understandable, but he kind of becomes inevitable.

Trump gets 2.5 times the circulation of NR in Drudge Super Poll same day magazine launches anti-Trump issue

National Review's 2012 circulation was reportedly 166,755.

The urgency of his ambition startled party brass

So say Bob Costa, et al., here.

Donald Trump has paid his dues, Ted Cruz has not.

National Review commits utter treason, joins the left to stop Trump, cooperating with POLITICO to do it

From the story here:

'“This is the time to mobilize,” said National Review editor Rich Lowry, who is also a weekly opinion columnist at POLITICO. “The establishment is AWOL, or even worse, so it’s up to people who really believe in these ideas and principles, for whom they’re not just talking points or positions of convenience, to set out the marker.” ... Lowry was slated to go on Megyn Kelly’s Fox News program Thursday night to promote the anti-Trump package. National Review plans to begin posting the essays and editorial, which were provided in advance to POLITICO, on Friday. While National Review ran an anti-Newt Gingrich cover and editorial in 2012, Lowry said, “I don’t think we’ve ever done something like this,” summoning a cross-section of conservative leaders to try to dislodge a GOP frontrunner.'

National Review has famously attacked its own in the past, from the John Birch Society to Joseph Sobran, Pat Buchanan and John Derbyshire, among others over the years. But this takes the cake. Trump doesn't even pretend to be an intellectual with ideas, but the fanatics are going to excommunicate him anyway.

It's a very sad day for those of us old enough to remember how the editorial pages of National Review were like water to men wandering in the desert. The magazine now drinks the full measure of the wrath of God.

So, it was Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty who first brought the Muslim Somalis, and incredible discord, to the state

Good thing the Bush partisan bombed in his run for the presidency.

From the story here:

'The first wave of refugees came to St. Cloud at the beckoning of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, bound for the meatpacking factories peppering the Mississippi riverbank. Their willingness to do arduous work for little pay led to friction with the unions. ... The city nicknamed "White Cloud" became 10 percent Somali. And that seemed to be the threshold where the welcome signs came down.'

Pawlenty famously bailed as national co-chair of the Mitt Romney campaign in September of 2012 after one year of service to accept a lobbying position with the Financial Services Roundtable, which hands out the dough to Congressional Republicans and Democrats alike. Romney reportedly paid off $400,000 of Pawlenty's presidential campaign debts.

Mark Levin is a joke: Trump would be doing better in Iowa if he'd listened to me, he says tonight

Trump is +11 over Cruz in IOWA in today's CNN poll!

Looks like The Donald doesn't need any advice from Mark Levin.

Trump surges in New Hampshire to +20 for third time this month in CNN poll, Mark Levin tonight thinks the news is about himself

CNN poll shows Trump surging to +11 over Cruz in Iowa, but the sample is pretty small

Flashback: Ted Cruz joined Glenn Beck at the border passing out the soccer balls and teddy bears to the illegal immigrants

From the story here in the summer of 2014:

'Beck said even if his actions entice more parents in Central America to send their children on the harrowing and sometimes deadly journey to America, it was never his “intent” to do so.'

Phyllis Schlafly's endorsement of Donald Trump turned more heads in Iowa than Sarah Palin's

From the story here:

'[Steve Scheffler, veteran Iowa political organizer] said that it was the support for Trump from 91-year-old conservative organizer Phyllis Schlafly that is “the one that has kind of turned some heads.”'

David Frum thinks Sarah Palin will be important for Trump in Iowa: they're kind of made of the same stuff

Here:

"Endorsements are usually said not to matter much in today’s politics—but if any endorsement in any contest ever can matter, Palin’s endorsement in the Republican Iowa caucuses will. ... In the contrast between Cruz’s support and Trump’s, one sees something truly new and disrupting—a battle between those for whom conservatism is an ideology, and those for whom conservatism is an identity. Since Donald Trump entered the race, one opponent after another has attacked him as not a real conservative. They’ve been right, too! And the same could have been said about Sarah Palin in 2008. Palin knew little and cared less about most of the issues that excited conservative activists and media." 

24% of Republicans not sure Ted Cruz is a natural born citizen, 12% sure he isn't, in latest Monmouth University poll

View the poll here.

Trump's ahead in Iowa in five of the last seven polls

Right back at ya: Norman Lear has been giving America the finger his entire life

That's the best comment on Norman Lear on His Latino 'All in the Family,' Why Trump Is America's "Middle Finger".

And at 93 he still is flipping-off America: "I care for her", he says of Hillary.

Well of course you do.

First term senators shouldn't even be running for president: Rand Paul (2010), Marco Rubio (2010) and Ted Cruz (2012)

Elected to the US Senate in 2004

"For six years, Republicans have said the nation made a mistake electing a one term Senator the President of the United States. Why should you, a one term Senator, be the GOP’s nominee?" 

-- Erick Erickson, here

Republican dickhead Rick Wilson calls Trump supporters a bunch of wankers

Takes one to know one.

Story here.

Best line from the comments section:

"If I had a head like his, I'd have it circumcised."

Wilson got his start working for G. H. W. Bush and Lee Atwater.

Trump in first by +19 ahead of Cruz in latest Monmouth poll

Palin endorsing Trump = Graham endorsing Bush

Just sayin'.

As late as six months ago Laura Ingraham was still predicting Jeb Bush would be the nominee

The New York Times is only eight years late to the issue

"It May Be Time to Resolve the Meaning of ‘Natural Born’"

Not-the-face-of-Islam strikes again: Politically-correct Daily Express calls Muslims charged with sexual assault "Asian men"

Not-the-face-of-Islam strikes again:

"Asian men charged over allegations of child rape, trafficking and sex assaults in Rochdale".

How many Japs or Chicoms do you know named Mohammed Sadeer, Ittefaq Yousaf, Arfan Iqbal, or Naheem Akram?

The inflation-adjusted price of the average prime slave from 1860 is $44,100, very close to the 2014 raw average US wage of $44,569

The average price of a prime slave from 1860 was about $1,500. Using the consumer price index, that's the equivalent of about $44,100 in 2014. The raw US average wage in 2014 was $44,569 according to the Social Security Administration.

The annual mean price of the labor of a slave from 1860 brought a return on investment of about 12%, and on a month to month basis about 14%.  In 2014, corporate profits before taxes came to 12.7% of GDP.

Total slave population in 1860 is estimated to be 3.95 million,  14.7% of the total white population.

See The Economics of American Negro Slavery by Robert Evans Jr. of MIT (1962), here.

Marco Rubio still thinks illegal aliens who haven't committed other felonies can stay

This morning, video here.

He won't deport any of them.

Trump in 1999: I am pro-choice . . . but I just hate it

That's not going to kill him, it's going to advance the narrative that Trump "grew" as he got older, grew out of his liberalism.

Video, highly edited, here.

Ted Cruz apologizes to millions of New Yorkers let down by liberals

Here.

Good lawyer.

Another Obama achievement: deliberately bankrupting coal companies, destroying jobs and making electricity more expensive

From the story here at Bloomberg yesterday detailing the coal bankruptcies:

Obama has backed tougher limits on carbon dioxide blamed for climate change.

New mercury standards that took effect last year led utilities to retire 23 gigawatts of coal-fired electricity, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

On Friday, his administration said it will stop leasing public land to coal developers and will weigh raising royalty fees for exploration while it studies the fuel’s environmental impacts.

Both production and demand for coal this year will fall to the lowest level since 1983, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said this week. ...

Arch [Coal Inc.] has followed Alpha Natural Resources Inc., Patriot Coal Corp., Walter Energy Inc. and James River Coal Co., in bankruptcy.

In other news, mining (129,000) and logging jobs (2,000) declined 131,000 in 2015, the biggest decline since 1986 and the third worst year of declines since 1939.

Since 2007 net generation of electricity from coal has declined by almost 30% through October 2015.

While retail sales of electricity in 2014 are almost exactly identical to such sales in 2007, measured in kilowatthours purchased, the cost of that electricity has gone up over 18% over the same period as coal's role is being deliberately curtailed.

Larry Kudlow today on his radio show repeatedly criticized Ted Cruz' attack on New York values

The Larry Kudlow Show is available by podcast at wabcradio.com.

Unlike fellow Jew Mark Levin, Kudlow found Cruz' debate remarks thoroughly reprehensible and repeatedly called on Cruz to apologize to New Yorkers.

Cruz already is doubling down, however, saying Americans don't want the rest of the country to become like liberal Manhattan.

Cruz is making a big mistake about New York. It shows he has a tin ear for politics. Americans everywhere admire New Yorkers' pluck in the face of adversity, their heroism and determination. It is politically senseless to ask such people to choose now between Ted Cruz and New York when they already have spoken their affection for the city that never sleeps.

Americans will never love Ted Cruz as much as they already love New York.

Rand Paul pledges to do everything he can to stop Trump, and then support him if he's the nominee

Rand Paul, quoted here:

"He would be a disaster. We’ll be slaughtered in a landslide. That’s why my every waking hour is to try to stop Donald Trump from being our nominee. It sounds terrible, 'Oh you're going to support Donald Trump,' but I expect Donald Trump to support me as well if I win."