One speech: Ted Cruz now viewed unfavorably by 49% of Republicans, up from 35% in May

Overall Republican favorable opinion of Ted Cruz has tanked 19 points from 60% to 41% between early May and late July in CNN/ORC polls.

Huffpo deliberately overstates the data here by comparing apples and oranges, but the decline in Cruz' favorables among Republicans is huge nonetheless: a decline of almost 32%. But worse are Ted Cruz' unfavorables among Republicans which went up 14 points, from 35% to 49% of Republicans, a whopping 40% increase in his unfavorability.

Bang! And you're dead.

May 2016

July 2016

Trump gets 10-point convention bump in CNN poll: Goes from Clinton +7 to Trump +3

Boo hoo, Bernie received 40% of the delegates instead of 43%, the outcome would have been the same: the paranoid crook and liar won

Bernie received 43.4% of the popular vote, but only 39.8% of the delegates.

Close enough for Democrat work.

The real story is that Hillary & Co. still thought they had to cheat. They're not just crooks and liars, but paranoid crooks and liars.

Laugh of the Day: Hilliary's been unhappy with Washerwoman-Schultz at the DNC, too, and so has Obama!

Where else? Hillary's own Politico, here:

Aides to President Barack Obama urged him to get rid of the troublesome DNC chair last fall. He passed, figuring she was Hillary Clinton’s problem to solve.

PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton and her team aren’t thrilled that the head of the Democratic National Committee was forced out on the eve of the nominee’s coronation – but they aren’t exactly distraught to see Debbie Wasserman Schultz booted from the tent.

Several senior Democratic officials with ties to Hillary and Bill Clinton told POLITICO that campaign higher-ups have been trying to replace the oft-off-message Florida congresswoman from the start of Clinton’s campaign late last year.

Romney won the Christian vote but lost the election by losing the NONES to Obama 74%-26%

So says Matthew Sheffield, here, with data for IA, FL, PA, VA, WI, MI and NH showing Romney won Protestants on average with 54% and Catholics with 53%.

The problem for Republicans is the growth of the non-Christian population, especially among the young:

"[T]he Godless Gap cost Mitt Romney the election".

Trump gets convention bump in large Gravis poll of registered voters to +2 over Clinton

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, RNC edition: Some things are intolerable to Donald Trump, and others not so much

the good

the bad

the ugly

CNBC unloads bias on Trump: Six of seven headlines are negative the day after the convention

Trump's new problem with Christians: He won't accept Ted Cruz' endorsement, but gay man Peter Thiel's is just fine

Trump, quoted here:

"If he gives it, I will not accept it," Trump, the GOP presidential nominee,  said at a Friday morning press conference in Cleveland.

Mostly female social conservatives saved the Republican platform from Paul Singer surrogate Annie Dickerson

From the story here:

But the [Tony] Perkins wing was met with vocal opposition from Annie Dickerson, an adviser to billionaire GOP donor Paul Singer, who is a proponent of same-sex marriage and other issues championed by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Dickerson fumed as her socially liberal proposals went down and the socially conservative measures she opposed sailed through the subcommittee. ... 

The 16-member subcommittee, made up of 13 women and three men, rejected Dickerson’s request to remove language in the platform that “salutes” states like North Carolina for passing controversial bathroom laws that critics say discriminate against transgender people.

She protested language that said the party supports “traditional marriage and the families a husband and wife create,” arguing instead for a provision that said children should be “raised in a loving and stable home.”

And she argued against having language in the platform that opposes the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

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."

Cynical Rush Limbaugh ends show suggesting the assertion that Ted Cruz proved last night that he deserved to be called a liar all along is just a circulating talking point

Because several callers got through making the same point today.

It couldn't be, could it, that Ted Cruz is just a liar and proved it one last time last night and everybody following this just happened to agree because they are smart enough to figure it out for themselves.

Rush Limbaugh. The new face of sneering elitism.

Rush Limbaugh justifies Ted Cruz' failure to endorse Trump by comparing it to Ted Kennedy's failure to endorse Jimmy Carter in 1980!

Rush's theatre of the absurd marches on.

I'm sure Republicans and Cruz-bots are just THRILLED that a so-called conservative plumbs the depths for acceptable in the party of scoundrels.

Rush better be careful. If he goes too deep he might bump in to Mary Jo Kopechne.

How hot is it in Grand Rapids, Michigan so far in 2016?

Mean cooling degree days through July: 423.

Actual cooling degree days in 2016 through July 19: 432.

Rush Limbaugh compares Ted Cruz to Richard Nixon, says it's still possible for Cruz to come back

Limbaugh's as crazy as Cruz.

I knew Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon was a friend of mine. Ted Cruz is no Richard Nixon.

Heavy sarc.

You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more

Hoosier Mike Pence on Donald Trump: "As we say back home, you can't fake good kids"

Here.

Charles Hurt calls Ted Cruz a "rude political has-been"

Here.

Cruz joins John Kasich and Jeb Bush in political oblivion. Laura Ingraham this morning called what we saw last night in Cruz' failure to endorse Trump "political suicide".

By contrast people like Scott Walker and Marco Rubio have swallowed hard and backed Trump, and therefore they will live to fight again another day.

But Ted is dead.

A Star is Born: Laura Ingraham rocks the Republican house, rips media and Hillary new ones in stunning performance

Here.

Ted Cruz tonight: One huge disappointment

I felt like I was listening to a Senate filibuster.

That guy will never be president.

Black olives matter in Albuquerque

Watch the Republican National Convention unfiltered without the talking heads at Right Side Broadcasting tonight at 7pm

Here.

Lucifer, the very first radical according to Alinsky

Speechwriter for Melania Trump explains mistake, Trump campaign won't fire her for "innocent mistake"

The Hill reported here.

Transparency.

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.

Trump has been polling ahead of Hillary for over a week in LA Times poll

Here.

Barack Obama in 2008 plagiarized "just words" from Duval Patrick in 2006, but liberals gave their guy a total pass

Here.

Melania Trump is full of gratitude to be an American, Michelle Obama is just full of attitude

"On July 28th, 2006, I was very proud to become a citizen of the United States -- the greatest privilege on planet Earth." 

Moochelle, 2008: "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country."

Republican Convention Day 1 Laugh of the Day, courtesy of Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA

"I'm from the great state of Illinois. The cool thing about Illinois is we have term limits. One term in office and one term in jail."

More about Charlie here.

Hey hey, Ho ho, Mark Zuckerberg's gotta go!

"Mark Zuckerberg’s immigration reform group ramps up its attacks on Donald Trump as the RNC gets under way"

Obama condones violence against police by broadcasting from abroad that cops need to admit they have a problem

A week ago, here, from Spain:

"[T]here’s data and evidence to back up the concerns that are being expressed by these [Black Lives Matter] protesters. And if police organizations and departments acknowledge that there’s a problem and there’s an issue, then that, too, is going to contribute to real solutions." 

Kick 'em out of NATO: Coup in Turkey staged by Islamist Erdogan, had at the ready a prepared list of 6,000 people to arrest

Reported here:

Following a failed coup attempt on Saturday, Turkish authorities on Sunday rounded up nearly 3,000 suspected military plotters, ranging from top commanders to foot soldiers, and the same number of judges and prosecutors.

French PM Manuel Valls seems to think that dying at the hands of terrorists is living

Quoted here:

“We would like to tell the French people that we will never give in,” Mr. Valls said outside the Élysée Palace, in Paris. “We will not give in to the terrorist threat. The times have changed, and France is going to have to live with terrorism.”

Oh the horror: The French might actually get angry and do something, disturbing effetes everywhere

From the story here:

I wish I could say this was just hysterical exaggeration. But the evidence does not support complacency. Just down the road from me on the outskirts of Montpellier on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, there's long been a gun club where enthusiastic game hunters can polish their skills during the off-season. Unlike in Britain, it is perfectly legal for members of such clubs to own pistols and semi-automatic rifles.

In the last few months, since the wave of terrorism has intensified, the membership of the gun club has quadrupled, from 200 to 800 members. The new members are not all motivated by the love of shooting sports. Benoit, a local olive farmer who owns more than a dozen rifles, pistols and shotguns, as well as an AK-47 assault rifle, admitted to me this weekend something much darker. 

"They're getting ready for a war," he said.

The biggest part of the violence problem, not even close to being part of the solution

Scott Adams: Hillary's got the cop-killer taint, which trumps :) crooked but also racist

Here.

Hypocrite Obama has tried to get around the law his entire presidency, today speaks up for it to make sure the history books trim his record

Quoted here:

"Attacks on police are an attack on all of us and the rule of law that makes society possible," Obama emphasized Sunday.

That didn't take 'em long: The toilet paper ticket

Mike Pence was an immigration squish in 2007 who caved to the gay mafia in 2015

This is not Trump surrounding himself with the best.

Detailed here and here.

Germany and France have suppressed the truth about the animalistic brutality of Islamist terrorists in recent incidents

Reported here, if you can stomach it.

Terrorist kills a bunch of fags in a gay nightclub, incompetent FBI finds no evidence he did it because they were gay

And there you have it. These people couldn't find their asses with both hands and a mirror.

Story here.

It takes the LA Times 8 handwringing paragraphs to break the bad news: Trump leads Clinton 43 to 40 in tracking poll

But there's really nothing to see . . .

Here.

Meaning of a military coup in a NATO country: The country shouldn't be in NATO

Stories everywhere.

Try here.

Sounds like the military is actually in favor of being a secularized state instead of the late Islamicized state the current government is sympathetic toward.

In which case, OK, but that's not how it's done in NATO.

#Anti-Trump crashes and burns in the rules committee: Can anything good come out of Utah?

An ignominious moment for Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who suddenly developed a tin ear for politics. Or maybe he's never had an ear for politics?

Story here.

If only 36% finish their college degrees in four years, maybe 64% of those in college don't belong there

The New York Times reported here in 2014:

At most public universities, only 19 percent of full-time students earn a bachelor’s degree in four years, the report found. Even at state flagship universities — selective, research-intensive institutions — only 36 percent of full-time students complete their bachelor’s degree on time.

Meanwhile just 59% finish within six years.

Well then, time to . . . BAN TRUCKS!

Trump tweets this morning that Mike Pence is his choice for VP

Bart Lower of Ionia, Michigan, is no Republican: In January he was a dues-paying member of the Libertarian Party and actually thought he could be president!

Oh how the mighty are fallen, running for president but six months later running for a lowly state house seat.

As usual The New York Times projects its own ludicrousness onto others

Here, where what's ludicrous is that The New York Times can't bring itself to say that the confessed devotee of Islamic State actually killed the 49 people, who somehow ended up dead:

“Right now, what we want to do is have a good conversation where we calm things down and we talk about solutions,” Speaker Paul Ryan explained in retreating from an issue — the ease with which terrorism suspects can buy guns — that Republicans had vowed to take up after a confessed devotee of the Islamic State last month opened fire in an Orlando nightclub, where 49 people were killed.

Mr. Ryan’s words deserve close inspection. They’re ludicrous. 

CBS/NYT poll has Trump tied with Hilliary 40-40

Here:

Heading into the two parties' conventions, the race for President is a dead heat, a change from last month when Hillary Clinton led by six points. Forty percent of registered voters now say they will back Clinton (a dip of three points), while 40 percent will vote for Trump (a bump up of three points). A month ago, Clinton led Trump 43 to 37 percent.

Rasmussen has Trump at +7 over Hilliary

Here:

The latest Rasmussen Reports weekly White House Watch survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Trump with 44% support to Clinton’s 37%.

Hillary Clinton: Imagine if Trump had the IRS to go after his critics and opponents

Yeah, imagine.

China's vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin declares most of South China Sea "China's territory"

Reported here:

Mr Liu insisted that most of the South China Sea, including the Spratly and Paracel island chains, were China’s "inherent territory". He added: "We hope that other countries will not take this opportunity to threaten China and work with China to protect the peace and stability of the South China Sea, and not let it become the origin of a war.”

Jonathan Turley rips Justice Ruth "Buzzi" Ginsburg, agrees with Trump that her statements are unethical and undermine the Supreme Court

Here:

[Trump] is right. What she did is not just wrong ethically. It undermines the integrity of the Supreme Court. it's a very serious blow to that court.

A proposed definition of "transvestite" for The Devil's Dictionary

TRANSVESTITE, noun: An utopian; an infantile person for whom the irreducible distinctions of reality are unacceptable and can readily be exchanged in a closet.

The Devil's Dictionary definition of a republic aptly captures the growing absence of law and order in America

In a republic the foundation of public order is the ever lessening habit of submission inherited from ancestors who, being truly governed, submitted because they had to. There are as many kinds of republics as there are gradations between the despotism whence they came and the anarchy whither they lead.

Are millions in America experiencing economic crisis?

If you lost your full-time middle class job in 2008 at the age of 51 and now by the age of 59 have only been able to find part-time work paying you one fifth of that, well yeah, it's a crisis.

Or maybe it's more like being slowly strangled to death because you saved enough before that to last this long, because you wouldn't still be alive to read this had you not. It's the real life version of "the continuing crisis" that used to be mocked in a monthly column at The American Spectator.

Hence our rage. Hence Trump. 

But otherwise, no, everything's just fine, sweetie.

The issue is briefly discussed here and here.

Hague Tribunal rules in favor of Philippines in South China Sea, saying China has never exercised exclusive authority over the waters

China doesn't give a damn.

Story here.

Andrea Leadsom withdraws in Britain, Theresa May to become Conservative Leader and PM by Wednesday

Cynical Brits torpedoed Leadsom by portraying her as someone who thought her traditional role as a mother gave her a leg up over her childless opponent.

Can't have that in queer-friendly England now can we?

Story here.

And yet, 71% think the economy is "rigged"

Discussed here.

Gallup: When fooling half the people all the time is good enough

50% of Americans still say Obama deserves little or no blame for the country's CURRENT economic troubles. 64% still blame Bush outright or somewhat.

Gallup, here.

On Sunday nights Drudge pays illegal aliens to write the headlines

It's hundreds, not thousands, of fringe bad actors organized by Black Lives Matter in major cities committing violence and calling for violent revolution

From the NBC story here:

Around 100 protesters were taken into custody in Saint Paul, while more than 100 people were arrested in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police in both cities said. ... In Saint Paul, protesters blocked Interstate 94 ... Authorities used smoke bombs when 200 protesters refused to leave the roadway just after midnight. ...

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hundreds of protesters gathered ...

Several hundred protesters took to the streets of San Francisco, blocking several roads and ramps to get on and off the Bay Bridge. ...

In central California, several hundred protesters blocked several intersections as they marched against police brutality in central Fresno. ...

In Chicago, hundreds of protesters held demonstrations downtown Saturday, and a group attempted to disrupt the a city-sponsored food and music festival. ...

Hundreds of people also marched in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale Saturday as part of the Black Lives Matter movement ....

A protest march was also held in Philadelphia. "Clearly this is REVOLUTION time. We know this," an organizer wrote on Facebook. Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, several hundred people broke off from Pittsburgh's 200th anniversary parade and marched to a courthouse to denounce the shootings of black men. ...

More than 150 people also gathered in downtown Newport, Rhode Island, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The current very strong El Nino is now 15 months long, averaging 1.45 on the index, and looks about done

This El Nino looks about done, with the last running 3-month mean value coming to just 0.7 on the index. Anything below 0.5 next time will mean we are truly finished with it. 

Five months after peak, the fall-off has come to almost 70% of peak value, a little less impressive than the fall-off of over 78% similarly measured for the 1997-98 episode.

The 1997-98 very strong El Nino was 13 months long and averaged 1.56 on the index.

The 1982-83 VSE was 15 months long and averaged 1.33.

The weather will be a changin'.

Flashback Hillary Clinton 1996: Not just gangs of kids but superpredators who must be brought to heel

Here.

Now she's excusing their violence.

Blacks commit homicides at a rate 8x higher than whites, but Hillary says it's whites who need to change

Hillary quoted here:

“I’m going to be talking to white people, we’re the ones who have to start listening to the legitimate cries coming from our African-American fellow citizens,” she said.

US Department of Justice here, reporting on the period 1980-2008:

The offending rate for blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost 8 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000).

Loretta Lynch would never say to the Tea Party what she said to her precious protesters: "Don't be discouraged"

Here:

[S]he urged peaceful protesters not to give up.

“I want you to know that your voice is important,” Lynch said Friday during a news conference at the Justice Department. “Do not be discouraged by those who would use your lawful actions as cover for their heinous violence. We will continue to safeguard your constitutional rights and to work with you in the difficult mission of building a better nation and a brighter future.”

Why term limits for political offices in Michigan is wrong-headed

In short because it's harder to hit a moving target. By the time the voters catch on, they're gone.

Hillary Clinton's seven perjuries before Congress: Clinton v Comey July 2016

Clinton: "I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email”.

Comey: “There was classified material emailed".

Clinton: “There was nothing marked classified on my emails, either sent or received”.

Comey: “There were a small number of portion markings on, I think, three of the documents. I don't think that our investigation established she was actually particularly sophisticated with respect to classified information and the levels and treatment. Even if information is not marked ‘classified’ in an email, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it".

Clinton: “It [her private e-mail set up] was allowed, but it was not a good choice”.

Comey: “You could be walked out [for that at the FBI] or, depending on the nature of the facts, you could be reprimanded".

Clinton: “I provided the department … with all of my work-related emails, all that I had”.

Comey:  "The FBI also discovered several thousand work-related e-mails that were not in the group of 30,000 that were returned by Secretary Clinton to State in 2014."

Clinton: “I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two”.

Comey: "[She] used multiple devices during the four years of her term as secretary of state".

Clinton: "“The FBI has the server that was used during the tenure of my State Department service”.

Comey: "Secretary Clinton used several different servers and administrators of those servers during her four years at the State Department, and used numerous mobile devices to view and send e-mail on that personal domain. As new servers and equipment were employed, older servers were taken out of service, stored, and decommissioned in various ways." 

Clinton: “There were no security breaches”.

Comey: "[W]e assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal email account".

Read the whole thing here at The Hill.

The communist "Party for Socialism and Liberation" infiltrated the protests this week against police brutality

The PSL advocates a revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and introduction of socialism where profit from labor is prohibited.

Has anyone asked whether its violent rhetoric had anything to do with the sniper attacks on the police in Dallas?

Probably not Loretta Lynch.

John Kass declares himself a Clinton loather because being a Clinton hater is just irrational

Here:

Instead, I'm probably something of a Clinton-Loather. Hate is about the loss of control, like the barking of a dog or someone who shrieks into the wind or at a crowd. Loathing takes time and consideration. And I've had years of watching the Clintons lie and dissemble and tell partial truths and get away with it, and take advantage of the principles of honorable men such as James Comey.