TW offline till Friday evening, 8/17

So at least you'll get some late commentary. TD

Watch: GOP Releases Video Trolling Omarosa. Trump Finishes Her Off

I don't expect Hillary or Bill to find fault with all this. TD

Weasel Zippers "Via Daily Wire:  "The Republican Party released a video trolling disgruntled former White House employee Omarosa Manigault Newman on Wednesday and President Donald Trump wasted no time jumping in and throwing a jab at her.

"Newman, who has been trying to promote her new book about her time in the White House by making wild accusations about the Trump administration, has been widely criticized by anti-Trump figures who have called her “evil,” “a liar,” and “not credible.”

"In response to Omarosa’s claims, the Republican Party compiled multiple television clips of Omarosa expressing very different sentiments toward the Trump administration before she was fired earlier this year.   Keep reading…

Piers Morgan Says Omarosa Manigault Offered Him Sex to Win ‘Celebrity Apprentice’
. . . "I’ve met a lot of vile human beings in my life, from dictators and terrorists to sex abusers and wicked conmen,” Morgan wrote in a piece for the DailyMail on Tuesday, February 13. “But I’ve never met anyone quite so relentlessly loathsome as Omarosa; a vicious, duplicitous, lying, conniving, backstabbing piece of work.”

“ 'Which beggars the question: what the hell was she doing inside the world’s most powerful building for 12 months? The answer, as we can now see, was amassing a whole mass of damaging information to now use against President Trump and his administration on Celebrity Big Brother,” Morgan continued, referencing Manigault opening up about Donald Trump and Mike Pence on the CBS reality show on Monday, February 12." . . .

Omarosa's friend blows a gaping hole in her accusation of Trump using THAT word.

. . . "Patton said she spoke with the producer who flatly denied having such a tape. Patton went on to call the claim of the president using the N-Word a “baseless accusation and imaginary audio tape, as falsely claimed by a former friend.' ”
. . . 

"Today, the individual who Omarosa confirmed to me as having played the second-hand audio recording to her last year confirmed that they have no tape, never had possession of a tape, never claimed to have possession of a tape and never played such a tape for Ms. Manigault-Newman.

"Tonight, on the MSNBC program, Hardball, Omarosa revealed to the general public what she had told me last December: That former Apprentice producer, Bill Pruitt, was the original source of the “N-word” tape." . . .  OF COURSE, she appeared on MSNBC!

Even the anti-Trump channels condemn Omarosa for all this

Piers Morgan: Omarosa – Who Claims Trump Used A Racial Slur – Called Him A
Gay Slur  . . . "Regardless, Omarosa has her own accusations of language to deal with. Folks, I give you assertions by your favorite person…that’s right — ladies and gentlemen, Piers Morgan: 

*NEW: Omarosa offered me sex to win Celebrity Apprentice, then called me a ‘f***ing f*gg*t’, invented gay smears & threatened to punch me. Why the hell was this vile creature ever employed at the White House? http://dailym.ai/2EDuKDd” 

American Couple Believing 'Evil Is A Make-Believe Concept' Bike Through Territory Near Afghan Border. ISIS Stabs Them To Death.

Daily Wire

"A young American couple who took a year-long bike trip around the world, believing that evil was a make-believe concept, took a fatal route in Tajikistan near the Afghan border, where alleged ISIS terrorists stabbed them to death.

"Jay Austin and Lauren Geoghegan, 29, quit their jobs last year in order to make their trip. Austin was a vegan who worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Geoghegan, a vegetarian who worked in the Georgetown University admissions office.

"Austin had a personal blog on which he wrote in June 2017, “I’ve grown tired of spending the best hours of my day in front of a glowing rectangle, of coloring the best years of my life in swaths of grey and beige. I’ve missed too many sunsets while my back was turned. Too many thunderstorms went unwatched, too many gentle breezes unnoticed.”

"Their trip, which lasted 369 days, took them from the southernmost tip of Africa in Capetown, South Africa, to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Montengro, Kosovo, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and finally Tajikistan, where they were murdered along with two other cyclists, one from Switzerland and the other from the Netherlands." . . .

"The New York Times reported:

A grainy cellphone clip recorded by a driver shows what happened next: The men’s Daewoo sedan passes the cyclists and then makes a sharp U-turn. It doubles back, and aims directly for the bikers, ramming into them and lurching over their fallen forms. In all, four people were killed: Mr. Austin, Ms. Geoghegan and cyclists from Switzerland and the Netherlands. Two days later, the Islamic State released a video showing five men it identified as the attackers, sitting before the ISIS flag. They face the camera and make a vow: to kill “disbelievers.” . . .

Swedish Mass Arson Attacks — An Islamic State Connection?

Gates of Vienna

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, here’s an update from our Swedish correspondent Svenne Tvaerskaegg with more information of the coordinated mass car-burnings that took place across Sweden the night before last.

. . . "The Swedish government has been put in an extremely difficult position by the arson attacks. The general election is less than one month away, and the main ruling party, the Social Democrats, are rapidly dropping in the polls as the nationalist and anti-immigration Sweden Democrats are rapidly rising. It was already likely the Sweden Democrats would emerge as the largest party in the Swedish parliament, and the arson attacks will only increase this probability. They have brought a new dimension to the pre-election situation and presented Prime Minister Stefan Löfven with an impossible dilemma. He has to be seen as strong and taking effective measures against the arsonists, but any large-scale police action in the ghettos will inevitably trigger riots on a scale not seen since the Stockholm ghetto riots of 2013. This would make a very bad situation even worse as the world’s eyes, and Swedish voters’ eyes, are on television images of pitched battles and burning cities. This is something Mr. Löfven definitely does not want, but may have to face up to.

"It is going to be a very interesting run-up to the election in Sweden."

Today in celebrities for violence against the president

Don Surber  "Kathy Griffin was only the first to push the narrative that it is OK to kill President Trump.
"Pearl Jam is the latest.
"The group held a rally for Democratic Senator Jon Tester in Montana. It used a poster of the White House in flames to promote the concert. Here it is.
"Republican Senate nominee Matt Rosendale told Breitbart News through a spokesman, “Once again, Jon Tester has shown he will stand with the far-left over Montanans. This poster from Pearl Jam is disgusting and reprehensible. It depicts a dead President Trump and a burning White House. It’s time for Jon Tester to denounce this act of violence and blatant display of extremism.”
"The local newspaper did not say how many people showed up, but it did quote Eddie Vedder of the band, who said, "There is one crowd size that we would be proud of, and that we would brag about. And that is if the state of Montana had the largest youth vote, the largest crowd, that came together in this upcoming election. That I would brag about all (expletive) day."
"So I am guessing that in a state that President Trump carried by 20 points, not many people are attracted to a concert advertised by killing the president.
"Democrats want to normalize this because they want him dead. They have convinced themselves that they are so right -- so principled -- so much better than the average American -- that they have the right and maybe duty to kill him." . . .

"The Washington Examiner took a shot at the band, noting, "Pearl Jam, whose cliche nature was already the subject of mockery 20 years ago, appears to have joined so many other celebrities calling for the death of President Trump.' " . . .

Et tu, Pearl Jam?
. . . "I was going to donate to their cause via the Starbucks (of course!) app on my Apple mobile phone, because, well, I love Pearl Jam.

"Then I see crap like this:

The press assault on President Trump

Certainly, this President can be irritating but do we really miss the feckless, meek leadership that Democrats - especially the self-absorbed celebrity-philic Barack Obama who let America's enemies eat our lunch - presented to the world? The same President whose tenure gave us the Black Lives Matter movement? The very people who rewarded dictators such as Iran and Cuba and turned against our allies in between appearances on TV talk shows? The Tunnel Dweller

A Journalist Reflects On His Profession’s Anti-Trump Collusion "A coordinated campaign by more than 100 newspapers Thursday will see publication of a wide variety of editorials, all condemning President Trump for his attacks on the press and pretty much anything and everything. (Update: Reported number now over 300.)"
. . .  And by the way, isn’t it strange how a billionaire from a New York high-rise could detect the heartland’s hurt better than those elected from that region?

"Trump did not invent many Americans’ visceral dislike of the media. He’s using it, exactly as these 100+ newspapers will use their readers’ visceral dislike of Trump to influence a large audience on this day. It’s all fair game in a free society, even one as bitterly splintered as ours these days." . . .

Participation comes after a push organized by the Boston Globe to run coordinated editorials against Trump’s attacks on the media  . . . "The Guardian has also joined the effort and has published an editorial alongside outlets around the United States.

“ 'Donald Trump is not the first US president to attack the press or to feel unfairly treated by it. But he is the first who appears to have a calculated and consistent policy of undermining, delegitimising and even endangering the press’s work,” the Guardian’s editorial says." . . .

UN human rights chief: Trump's attacks on press 'close to incitement of violence'

You mean like the violence black-clad Democrats use on pro-Trump people using bike locks and other weapons?

Desperate anti-Trump media elevate a strange trio to discredit the president  "In the media’s latest tactic to take down President Trump in the court of public opinion, anti-Trump journalists are pinning their hopes on a porn star, a corrupt lawyer and a reality TV star. It almost sounds like the beginning of a bad joke – except this is unfortunately our present reality. 
"While legitimate questions may exist for the president, trying to legitimize this shady trio by giving them a media makeover isn’t going to give them credibility with the general public. This may be the mainstream media’s “dream team,” but Main Street USA will be a much harder sell." . . .

That would be this Omarosa, who was "Fired or Tossed From Govt. Positions Under Clinton… FOUR Different Times".  This source called Omarosa "disruptive". 

Posted by Nancy Downs in Expose Liberals & Media Bias:

Why Does California Let Billions Of Gallons Of Fresh Water Flow Straight Into The Ocean?

Rich Terrell

2015 editorial in Forbes:  For years people have tried to address this issue, pro, and con:
. . . "It’s problematic because it causes us to look at solutions that are inappropriate for the city, the state, and for long-term sustainability. For example: there’s a growing drumbeat about desalination. But it’s well known that this won’t solve the problem, and it’s extremely expensive and energy intensive.

"Why make freshwater when we could collect the water that falls from the sky? Even on the driest year in recorded history in 2013, it still rained 3.6 inches in Los Angeles. An inch of rainfall in L.A. generates 3.8 billion gallons of runoff, so you’re talking about more than 12 billion gallons of water that could be captured, but that flows within hours down our concrete streets and into the ocean. There’s enough rainwater to be harvested to produce 30-50% of the entire city’s water needs.

"Ashoka: What does harvesting rainwater actually mean?

"Lipkis: It means capturing and then treating the water the flows off our roofs and down our streets each time it rains. There are a lot of ways to do so, including by removing concrete and replacing it with permeable earth to soak in the water like a sponge. And homes and businesses can install rain bins and cisterns to hold the water for later use.

. . . 

"Ashoka: Skeptics of the Governor Brown’s mandatory reductions argue that we won’t make a dent until we deal with agricultural water use, which accounts for up to 80% of statewide use. Are they right?

"Lipkis: They’re right that farming practices need to be improved and that the ag sector needs some reforms. But in a way these are two different conversations: on the one hand, everyone needs to bring their water use down; on the other, we need to be smarter about collecting the precious water that does fall in our state, and we need to do so in ways that don’t damage entire ecosystems like we did to the Owens River valley.

When you capture rainwater locally, you’re reducing how much you have to pump in from other parts of the state, and that saves money and electricity. Moving water is actually the single largest use of electricity in California!" . . .  Full article.

300+ newspapers publish the same anti-Trump editorial today

I fear America's adversaries, the Iranians and North Koreans will now smell blood in the water and realize the American press is taking away the power with which our victor over ISIS, Donald Trump confronted them. What now happens in our dealings with these rogue nations?President Trump's undisciplined tweets have made many question his sanity and maturity, but as Abraham Lincoln once commented on rumors of General Grant's alcohol problem, "I can't spare this man; he fights!". TD

Rich Terrell

Thomas Lifson  "Today marks another milepost on the funeral march of the American newspaper industry. Has there ever before been such a mass demonstration of self-unawareness as the collective expression of outrage this morning by the editorial boards of these ailing enterprises? Here is the editorial as it appears today in the Boston Globe, which no doubt will receive one or more journalism awards (journalists love to give each other awards for agreeing with each other) for their “courage” – as if howling mobs were outside their doors, and military vans on their way to seize the printing presses.

"The editorial, indeed, raises the fear of being shut down right up front, relying on a poll supposedly indicating a public ready to send storm troopers into the nation’s newsrooms. Ginning up polls is a standard operating procedure for the media, who are well aware that by careful wording and sequencing on questions, you can shape the public response into the direction you are hoping for. In this case, Trump-haters are anxious to manufacture a purported threat to shut them down, which is something that nobody in a position of authority has ever even hinted at." . . .

My friend Andrew Malcolm, a veteran journalist who made his career as a foreign correspondent of the New York Times has the best commentary on the pathetic effort at Hot Air* (read the whole thing):

*Posted separately in this blog.