A Walking Tour of Manhattan's West Village During the Great Depression

 90 years ago today - time-travel through better AI.

Read it here.

A Walking Tour of Philadelphia — December 16, 1775

 Using AI for time-travel.

Read it here.

A Walking Tour of the Lower East Side — December 15, 1925

Using AI for time-travel.

Read it here.

A Walking Tour Through Boston - December 14, 1775

 A time-travel experiment using AI to recreate the scenes as realistically as possible. Click to zoom.

Read it here.

SMASHING THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT: Trump, Bush, Cruz and Me

Context: as has been expertly documented by The Last Refuge, the Republican establishment long ago designed and began implementing a convoluted strategy to nominate Jeb Bush and defeat Ted Cruz.

The GOP establishment (which the Refuge dubs "GOPe") devised a wide-ranging set of tactics to achieve that goal:

1. Hidden within the massive CRomnibus bill to fund the government were obscure federal election law changes that allowed unlimited SuperPAC (large political action committees unaffiliated with specific candidates) contributions.
2. They funded SuperPACs in order to incentivize the desired candidate behavior
3. They changed the nomination rules of the 2016 primary (e.g., "winner take all delegates") to allow an unpopular candidate like Jeb to secure the nomination with only 20% (one-fifth!) of the delegates
4. They altered the calendar dates of primaries to advantage a weak, establishment candidate (Bush) that had little, if any, grassroots support

All of these tactics were designed to support what the Refuge calls the "Splitter Strategy": a plan to dilute the GOP field with as many candidates as possible in order to erode the support of a popular, grassroots candidate.

For instance, Cruz vs. Bush was projected to be an utter rout in Florida, with internal polling showing that Cruz would crush Bush. But what would happen if the GOPe added Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, and Marco Rubio to the mix?

GEORGE WILL EXPOSED AS A COMPLETE HACK: Repeatedly Rips Donald Trump While His Wife Works for Scott Walker

Well, this is rather corrupt and evil:

• Will calls Trump a "One-Man Todd Akin"
• Will demands the GOP purge Trump and his Trumpite supporters
• Will asks: "Do we really want to give nuclear weapons to Donald Trump?
• Will: If Trump were a Democrat mole, "how would his behavior be different?"

Well, it's fine to have an opinion, but shouldn't Will's bizarre comments be accompanied by a full disclosure?

Shouldn’t George Will have to give a disclaimer every time he is on Fox that his wife works for Scott Walker?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2015

That is, his "wife, Mari Will, works for Scott Walker."


Hat tip: BadBlue News.
 

DOUG’S REPORT CARD: The First 2016 GOP Presidential Debate

What follows are my personal impressions of the initial 2016 debate. I've tried to fairly assign each candidate a letter grade based solely upon the night's performance, not my personal advocacy/animosity level for the candidate.

Jeb Bush: D
In what was a surprisingly awful performance, Jeb looked like a deer in the headlights on multiple occasions. In person, Jeb's tall and imposing; but on the debate stage he looked small and weak. His attempt to bolster his prior, bizarre comments on illegal immigration, especially in the wake of Kate Steinle's murder, was a rambling, hot mess.

Ben Carson: B-
Carson is an appealing candidate who appeared overwhelmed at the beginning of the debate and then seemed to find his footing as the night wore on. His likable personality is both tempered and bolstered by the fact that he's not a professional politician.

INFOGRAPHIC: 6 Reasons to Support Ted Cruz. Reason 1 - "Moderate Candidates are Losers"

Spotted in a presentation from a conservative PAC that supports my preferred candidate, Ted Cruz.

SHAKING MY HEAD: How Can Scott Walker’s Team Hire Someone Like Brad Dayspring?

By John Hawkins

Scott Walker’s campaign caught flack for hiring Liz Mair earlier this year. Liz, whom I know and respect despite the fact she’s well to the left of me on a number of issues, made the mistake of slamming Iowa’s position in the primary system. Most conservatives don’t like Iowa having so much sway in the GOP primaries, but most conservatives also aren’t working for a candidate who’s running in those primaries either. After Walker caught flack from Iowans over Mair’s remarks, she ended up resigning. That’s too bad because Liz is an excellent digital media strategist, but once her comments became a big enough issue to actually hurt Walker in the primary, it put him in a very difficult position.

Today, he’s in a much worse position because Scott Walker’s Unintimidated PAC has hired Brad Dayspring.

Some people might excuse Scott Walker for this hire because he currently can’t coordinate with the PAC. However, people in the know realize that’s a cop-out. The PAC is run by former high-level Scott Walker staffers who would NEVER deliberately do anything he doesn’t agree with. Furthermore, you can be sure that there was PLENTY of coordination between Walker and his staffers right up until the moment he was legally unable to continue to do so. Is it possible that he personally approved the hiring of someone like Dayspring beforehand? Absolutely, but a big part of the value of PACS like this one is that they create a degree of separation between the candidate and the PAC. The PACs can run dirty ads and they can hire dirtbags who will undermine grassroots conservatives at every opportunity and supposedly, the candidate can’t be blamed.

Well, not this time.

Ted Cruz’s New Book Blisters Mitch McConnell and Other Members of the RINO Surrender Caucus

Wherein I highlight some of the key findings of Ted Cruz's new book, starting with MSNBC, which I read so you don't have to subject yourself to the filmy and unhygienic commentary.

“During my time in the Senate, I’ve been amazed how many senators pose one way in public — as fiscal conservatives or staunch tea party supporters — and then in private do little or nothing to advance those principles,” Cruz says in his new book, “A Time for Truth.”

... The Texas senator titled the first chapter of his book “Mendacity,” and spends its pages cataloging the ways Senate Republicans betrayed him and the conservative movement he stands for.

“[O]ne particular Politico reporter often seems like he is Mitch McConnell’s press secretary; nearly every attack from leadership gets echoed and amplified in his stories.”

... The chapter casts Mitch McConnell as its chief villain, accusing the Senate Majority Leader of cowering in fights over the debt ceiling and Obamacare, too afraid of bad headlines from the liberal media to stand up for conservative principles. But McConnell isn’t portrayed as merely a coward — he’s also a tyrant, who threatens Cruz with media smears and withheld funding unless he, too, capitulates to the liberal agenda.

“The Republican leadership’s attacks are amplified and made more effective by using friendly media outlets,” Cruz wrote. “When leadership is displeased, they place hit pieces with journalists only too happy to cooperate. Indeed, so much so that one particular Politico reporter often seems like he is Mitch McConnell’s press secretary; nearly every attack from leadership gets echoed and amplified in his stories.”

WALL OF SHAME: Who voted for TPP fast track in the Senate?

Courtesy of Against Crony Capitalism:

It's time to get serious about busting these Republican sellouts, once and for all.

Mike Flynn needs your help today in Illinois.

And in the near future, JD Winteregg will need your help against John Boehner (for an unknown, underfunded contender in 2014, he came amazingly close to unseating the Orange Crust).

As for the presidential race, it's time to start separating the wheat from the chaff. We conservatives need to align on a couple of serious candidates -- I'm thinking Ted Cruz and Scott Walker -- who have the chops to defeat both the Left and the Right. The time. Is. Now.
 
 

THIS IS A PICTURE OF JUDGE BARBARA KLUKA: Make Her Name a Household Word

Those who have high blood pressure should not read this piece by David French, in which he describes the criminal abuse of the Wisconsin legal system by partisan Democrats aided and abetted by a scumbag in judge's robes.

If the first series of John Doe investigations was “everything Walker,” the second series was “everything conservative,” as Chisholm had launched an investigation of not only Walker (again) but the Wisconsin Club for Growth and dozens of other conservative organizations, this time fishing for evidence of allegedly illegal “coordination” between conservative groups and the Walker campaign.

In the second John Doe, Chisholm had no real evidence of wrongdoing. Yes, conservative groups were active in issue advocacy, but issue advocacy was protected by the First Amendment and did not violate relevant campaign laws. Nonetheless, Chisholm persuaded prosecutors in four other counties to launch their own John Does, with Judge Kluka overseeing all of them.

Empowered by a rubber-stamp judge, partisan investigators ran amok. They subpoenaed and obtained (without the conservative targets’ knowledge) massive amounts of electronic data, including virtually all the targets’ personal e-mails and other electronic messages from outside e-mail vendors and communications companies.

The investigations exploded into the open with a coordinated series of raids on October 3, 2013. These were home invasions, including those described above. Chisholm’s office refused to comment on the raid tactics (or any other aspect of the John Doe investigations), but witness accounts regarding the two John Doe investigations are remarkably similar: early-morning intrusions, police rushing through the house, and stern commands to remain silent and tell no one about what had occurred.

At the same time, the Wisconsin Club for Growth and other conservative organizations received broad subpoenas requiring them to turn over virtually all business records, including “donor information, correspondence with their associates, and all financial information.” The subpoenas also contained dire warnings about disclosure of their existence, threatening contempt of court if the targets spoke publicly.

For select conservative families across five counties, this was the terrifying moment — the moment they felt at the mercy of a truly malevolent state.

Godwin's Law be damned: Barbara Kluka would have thrived as a judge in Nazi Germany. She should be sanctioned and subjected to every criminal charge imaginable. Judges are supposed to uphold the law, not rubberstamp the criminal suppression of political opponents.

If you haven't bothered to read the article yet, please do so. You need to know how low the modern Democrat Party will stoop and right now it's pretty damn low indeed.


Hat tip: Mark Steyn.

BOOM: Rating the GOP field on Amnesty

Over at American Thinker, Pedro Gonzales offers an excellent overview of the GOP field's positions on Amnesty. Here's the executive summary: only one candidate has never changed his position on the topic.

Jeb Bush

"...Jeb, as we all know, supports amnesty for illegal aliens, and he's proud of it. If he were running in Honduras, I would vote for him in a minute..."

Marco Rubio

"...Rubio co-authored a bill that would have given amnesty to illegal aliens. He has since tried to walk back from that..."

Chris Christie

"...Chris has been cagey on the subject, but one thing is clear: he ordered his appointee to Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat to vote for Marco Rubio's amnesty bill..."

Rick Perry

"...Perry is tough on illegal immigrants! He sent a handful of national guard troops to the border! (With orders not to arrest any illegals.) But as for those illegals who manage to slip through this imposing gauntlet, Perry rewards them with taxpayer-subsidized college educations. If he's paying for illegals to go to college, I think it's safe to say he supports amnesty..."

Mike Huckabee

"...in February 2007, Huckabee ... stated, 'We shouldn't have amnesty where we just say, "Fine, everybody's good, we're going to let it go.' We should have a process where people can pay the penalties, step up and accept responsibility for not being here legally..."

Scott Walker

"...Walker backed the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill in 2006... [and] went as far as to tell POLITICO in 2013 that he supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants..."

Rand Paul

"...Paul claims he's against amnesty, but he voted for an amendment to give 2 million 'temporary' visas to illegal aliens annually...who could then apply for citizenship. It looks like amnesty to me..."

Ted Cruz

"Cruz is the only major candidate who has never supported or endorsed amnesty."

As they say on the real blogs, read the whole thing.

Frantic media try to gin up Scott Walker controversy while refusing to ask serious questions of Democrat candidates

Vintage media, with its foaming-at-the-mouth "attacks" on Scott Walker for his thoroughly uncontroversial remarks regarding Rudy Giuliani, patriotism and Barack Obama, have pointed us to the true GOP front-runner.

How do you know that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has taken at least temporary custody of frontrunner status in the race for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016? Beyond, of course, the polls that show him rocketing to the front of the pack in critical early primary states like Iowa? The political press is coming down hard on him and his nascent campaign.

After three unambiguous statewide victories in a Democratic state in just four years, Scott Walker is thoroughly vetted. If there were skeletons in his closet, the media and the myriad opposition researchers scrutinizing his past would have found them by now.

...So, the press has taken a keen interest in catching Walker in unflattering moments or making hash out of otherwise minor controversies... You will perhaps not be surprised to learn that Walker has disqualified himself from serving as the President of the United States twice in less than one week, at least according to the Beltway media ... When the Wisconsin governor was inexplicably asked by The Washington Post whether or not he believed that Barack Obama was a Christian, Walker stepped on a landmine when he answered, “I don’t know.”

Back in the little land I like to call "the part of America not in D.C.", Walker's comments are of no import whatsoever.

That is not the case for three questions every Democrat presidential candidate must be forced to answer, as suggested by William A. Jacobson.

1. Should Joe Biden stop touching women without consent?

Our current VP is a serial groper, and the 2016 frontrunner takes Al Jazeera's funny money under the table. No question material there!

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 21, 2015

2. Is Elizabeth Warren Native American?

Every Democrat must express an opinion on whether @SenWarren is Cherokee http://t.co/H1V24MqQAc cc: @seanmdav

— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) February 22, 2015

3. Is it okay that Bill Clinton participated in [sex/orgy] vacations with a pedophile?

Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein flew Bill Clinton to his private sex island b/c he owed Bill "a favor." Nobody asks Hillary about that.

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) February 21, 2015

I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for some intrepid reporter (pah!) to broach one of these completely valid and legitimate questions. Instead, we'll have to brace ourselves for more faux controversies as Scott Walker answers "I don't know" to a series of questions about the opinions voiced by other people.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Gallup: Only Three States, D.C., Tilt Ideologically “Liberal”

At DownTrend, Robert Gehl relays some encouraging word from Gallup.

In only three states and the District of Columbia are there more self-professed liberals than conservatives.

Gallup’s latest “State of the States survey shows only residents of Hawaii, Massachusetts and Vermont are more liberal than conservative. The other 47 states tilt conservative to one degree or another.

Of course, the way one identifies themselves can differ markedly from reality, where many of these states are solidly Democratic.

Nationally, only 24 percent of Americans consider themselves ideologically liberal – but that number is up eight points from 20 years ago.

Still, it’s an indication that the political label “liberal” is still considered a dirty word in American politics.

And on the less encouraging theme of "the tide is shifting", earlier today President Obama alluded to the fact that illegal immigration will drown conservatism (and by extension, America).

Which is why only a Constitutional Conservative will do in 2016. Close the borders, tear down the regulatory state, and unleash the American economy.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Perhaps the geniuses at the RNC can take a look at the Republican Presidential Poll over at the Drudge Report

And by the RNC, I mean the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Crony Capitalism.

As I mentioned yesterday, Jeb Bush has about as much chance of being President as Justin Bieber has of serving on the Supreme Court.

1. 47% (166,593) Scott Walker
2. 14% (48,652) Ted Cruz
3. 12% (44,323) Rand Paul
4. 8% (27,589) Ben Carson
5. 5% (16,749) Jeb Bush
6. 4% (14,105) Sarah Palin
7. 4% (13,201) Marco Rubio
8. 2% (5,434) Donald Trump
9. 2% (5,368) Mike Huckabee
10 1% (5,159) Chris Christie

Real impressive showings for the Beltway Establishment's favorites, Bush and Christie.

It's early, but I'm starting to get a warm, fuzzy feeling about 2016.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

IT'S TIME: The Cruz Coalition Is Coming!

Based upon a speech by the invaluable Trevor Loudon.

Could you support a ticket like that? Let me know in the comments.

Oh, and let Ted Cruz know on Twitter. It's time we started taking this country back.

NO, REALLY, I'M SERIOUS: RNC Braintrust Actually Believes Jeb Bush is a Viable Presidential Candidate

What, Jon Huntsman wasn't available?

I know for a fact that the RNC is prepping the Jebster for a run because I happened to be at a corporate event a while back and The Smart Bush® made an appearance. Trailing him into the room at a discrete distance was ReiNCe Priebus, ostensible chair of the RNC.

I say "ostensible" because we all know that the RNC is actually run by Tom Donahue, president of the Chamber of Commerce. And Donahue, more than anything else, seeks cheap immigrant labor--the American economy, the American citizenry, and the Constitutional system be damned.

Which explains Jeb Bush's borderline-insane pleas for open borders, Amnesty, and the inevitable voting rights and citizenship for tens of millions of illegal aliens.

In contrast, Kurt Schlichter highlights the weakness of the Democrat's 2016 candidates, headlined by the ludicrously unqualified Hillary Clinton, who -- at best -- represents a third term for Valerie Jarrett Barack Obama.

VILE: Chris Christie sticks a knife in Scott Walker's back

Dan Riehl points us to a disturbing revelation by the Weekly Standard.

As background, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie serves as Chairman of the Republican Governors' Association (RGA). In that capacity, Christie controls the purse-strings of a substantial pot of dough that would normally be deployed to the most competitive gubernatorial races for GOP candidates.

Despite rumors of Christie undermining Walker's campaign by withholding precious funding, GOP insiders had earlier assured the Standard that Christie had Walker's back. It would appear that they were lying.

The RGA had already spent $6 million overall in Wisconsin, the source said, and would spend a total of $10 million or $11 million by Election Day – up to an additional $5 million to shore up Walker in a competitive race. The majority of the money the RGA had spent – and planned to spend – would be on television ads. Those numbers, this source pointed out, compare favorably to RGA spending next door in Michigan ($10 million to date), where Governor Rick Snyder has held a small but consistent lead in public and private polling. “So when all is said and done, we’ll spend more in Wisconsin than Michigan,” the source told us.

That’s not accurate.

...Our “GOP source with knowledge of RGA spending” told us [that] the RGA is committing to just $2 million now – that’s not an increase over their original amount, as RGA officials told the Post, it would appear to be a significant reduction.

What's more, Wisconsin GOP sources dispute the RGA's claim to have spent $6 million to date, putting the figure at closer to $3 million.

...the RGA is now conceding that they are spending more on Michigan ($10 million to date) than Wisconsin... In the RealClearPolitics average of polls over the last three weeks (9/30 through 10/19) [Michigan Gov. Rick] Snyder has a 5.6 point lead.

...In Wisconsin, by contrast, Democrat Mary Burke has led or been tied with Walker in nearly half of the polls taken since April (7 of 16). On Thursday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "Burke and her allies have outspent the governor and his allies on broadcast television, $8.2 million to $7.4 million, according to data compiled by the Center for Public Integrity," but "Republicans are believed to have a spending advantage" on cable. Campaign spending is just one factor out of many that can determine the outcome of a close race, but the race in Wisconsin couldn't get any closer. Walker and Burke are now tied--47.3 percent to 47.3 percent--in the average of polls.

Like 2012 -- when the New Jersey governor threw Mitt Romney under the bus by offering numerous photo ops and a tacit endorsement of Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy -- it would seem that Chris Christie's number one job is promoting Chris Christie.

If that means sabotaging a potential 2016 rival for the GOP presidential nomination, so be it. Christie is a perfect representative of the GOP establishment; he fits in seamlessly with other selfish "me-firsters" like Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

MY, THAT'S ORIGINAL: ‘Scott Walker is Hitler’ Messaging From the Ebola Democrats, Chapter XXIVIXMSCIL

By M.D. Kittle

MADISON, Wis. — Here we go again — another roadside sign comparing Republican Gov. Scott Walker to Adolf Hitler.

“WALKERS MOTTO DIVIDE & CONQUER SO WAS HITLERS,” proclaims the grammatically challenged, hand-written sign pinned to posts just off of Mariner Road near Wisconsin Highway 83 in Hartland.

The sign is across the highway from Westbrook Church, an Evangelical Christian worship center at 1100 Wisconsin 83.

A church employee confirms seeing the sign posted at the residence. She said the property has long posted one derogatory sign or another about Walker in recent years.

Wisconsin’s campaign silly season has kicked into hyperdrive, although the Hitler rhetoric is nothing new from the left, which holds a searing hatred for Walker.

In 2011, the governor successfully led a public sector collective bargaining reform bill, known as Act 10, that, according to unions and other critics, deprived Wisconsin’s government employees of their rights. Supporters, however, see Act 10 as returning rights to taxpayers.

During debate over Act 10, tens of thousands of protesters – the brunt of them connected with big labor – demonstrated at the state Capitol, while Democrat senators fled the state to stall a vote on the bill.

Hyperbolic signs lined the Capitol Square during those tumultuous times, signs comparing Walker to every despot from Hitler to Osama bin Laden.

The latest sign’s “divide & conquer” reference is an old liberal political chestnut, drawn loosely from comments Walker made to a campaign donors during what was believed to be an off-camera conversation. To the left, the governor’s turn of phrase, “use divide and conquer,” signaled a concerted campaign to take out organization, not simply fix a $3.6 billion budget shortfall that Walker and Republican lawmakers inherited after sweeping into power in 2010.

Read more at Watchdog.org