The EU

Google says the EU requires a notice of cookie use (by Google) and says they have posted a notice. I don't see it. If cookies bother you, go elsewhere. If the EU bothers you, emigrate. If you live outside the EU, don't go there.

Saturday, March 30, 2019

Who is Committing Sexual Assault?


For John, BLUFSexual equality seems to include equality amongst perps.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

New CDC report reveals troubling equality when it comes to sexual assault rates.

This is a USA Today article by Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Published 6:55 p.m. ET Sept. 22, 2014.

Yes, there is former Vice President Joe Biden, attracting attention to himself, but sexual misbehavior is not just a male thing.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Heading North


For John, BLUFRefugees at our Southern Boder come from somewhere.  That somewhere is Central America, where conditions are not good.  The good news is that between us and Venezuela stands the nation of Columbia.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From USA Today, by Reporterw Aaron Montes and Rick Jervis, 30 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

Under a bridge connecting the U.S. with Mexico, dozens of migrant families cram into a makeshift camp set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  The families are there because permanent processing facilities have run out of room.

Seven hundred miles east, busload after busload of weary, bedraggled migrants crowd into the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas.  Organizers there are used to handling 200 to 300 migrants a day.  Lately, the migrants have been arriving at a clip of around 800 a day, overflowing the respite center and straining city resources.

“It’s staggering,” McAllen City Manager Roy Rodriguez said.  “Really, we’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Along the Texas border with Mexico – from El Paso to Eagle Pass to the Rio Grande Valley – masses of migrants have been crossing the border in unprecedented numbers, overwhelming federal holding facilities and sending local leaders and volunteers scrambling to deal with the relentless waves of people.

So, if we accept the view of illegal immigration experts House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that there is no crisis on our Southern Boder, can we at least grant that there is a caution?  And will they help round up the money to help deal with this caution?

And there is this Associated Press story from the end of this last week, "Mexico braces for new caravan of Central American migrants".  There are 44 million people in Central America, many in criminal gangs and most of the others looking to go some place better.  How many of those even understand what it means to be an American?  Nancy?  Chuck?

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Identifying Racists


For John, BLUFThe Professor being talked about basically says that if you expect politeness you are a racist  Ouch.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

From Freedom Outpost, by Mr Tim Brown, 29 December 2018.

Here is the lede:

Earlier this month, a university educator told the Madison Board of Education why things like civility, time limits and mowing your lawn indicates you are racist.
I am trying to imagine what this nation would be like if we didn't have civility and time limits at say, local government meetings.  The moving of one's lawn is not that big a deal for me.  So how does everyone get heard?  Does Government decay to the rule of the bullies?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

  Truth be told, it is important to my wife, so it gets done.

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Anti-Religious Violence Worldwide


For John, BLUFWithout a full and balanced reporting of violence against religious groups one could draw wrong conclusions.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From End of the American Dream, by Mr Michael Snyder, 17 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

Last week, when a deranged lunatic gunned down dozens of Muslims at two mosques in New Zealand it suddenly became the biggest news story in the world, and rightly so.  It was a major news event, and it needed to be reported.  But shouldn’t mass killings of Christians be given the same sort of media coverage?  Sadly, we all know that doesn’t happen.  Whenever there is a mass killing of Christians, it is usually entirely ignored by the mainstream media in the United States, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why this is happening.  Those that control the mainstream media consider Christians to be one of the main obstacles to “progress” in this country, and so any story that would put Christians in a positive or sympathetic light simply does not fit any of the narratives that they are pushing.

As a result of the lack of media coverage, the vast majority of Americans do not know that “4,136 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons” last year.

That number breaks down to an average of 11 per day.

In Nigeria, more than 120 Christians have been gunned down or killed with machetes over the past three weeks, but Breitbart was the only big media outlet to report on it…

Yes, this is way out of the mainstream, but the fact is that the 120 folks killed in Nigeria over the last several weeks will not be showing up for breakfast.  For some reason, others decided they didn't have a right to life.  That does not seem like a good thing.

I am not convinced the mainstream media is suppressing this news because of the dangers of Christianity, but I do think the idea of Muslim groups attacking Christians in various parts of the world works against the idea of Caucasians (especially males) as standing in the way of progress.  (It gets confusing when you consider that vast numbers of Muslims are Caucasian and the 120 dead Nigerian Christians were Black.)

Hat tip to Zero Hedge.

Regards  —  Cliff

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Was It A Coup?


For John, BLUFOn City Life this morning Host George Anthes broached the question of if there was a slow motion Coup being perpetrated against the President and the American People.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The New York Sun, by Columnist Conrad Black, 25 March 2019.

The followup question should be if there are people who should be held accountable.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

CIA Director Muffs It


For John, BLUFIs it any wonder the President is suspicious of the reports out of the Intelligence Community (IC)?  This is a topic about which the President knew more than the IC and they got it wrong.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Town Hall, by Reporter Katie Pavlich, 25 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Former CIA Director John Brennan is doing his best to explain why he perpetuated a hoax about collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia for the past two years. He isn't doing a very good job, however.

. . .

Brennan didn't only push a conspiracy theory, he called President Trump a traitor.

"Missed it by that much."

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Monday, March 25, 2019

Progressives Against Israel


For John, BLUFI guess as long as it was in danger of being overrun Israel was acceptable, to Progressives, but strong, not so much  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Powerling Blog, by Mr John Hinderaker, 21 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

When freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar came out with smears whose anti-Semitic nature couldn’t be denied, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer responded rapidly, with unequivocal denunciation.  But when Pelosi tried to steer a resolution condemning anti-Semitism through the House, her party’s young radicals, who rightly view themselves as representative of the Democrats’ base, rebelled.  Omar and her fellow “progressives” won the day, and Pelosi replaced her anti-Semitism resolution with one so anodyne that Omar happily voted for it.

Yesterday, the arch-leftist group MoveOn denounced the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has until now enjoyed broad bipartisan support, and urged Democratic presidential candidates to boycott AIPAC’s upcoming conference.  Ilya Sheyman, Executive Director of MoveOn.org Political Action, tweeted:

Ilya Sheyman
@iSheyman
“You cannot be a progressive and support AIPAC because of the policies that they’ve supported.”
And, of course, the Democratic Party 2020 Nominees are Mostly steering clear of AIPAC, which is reason enough to not vote for them.

For the Progressives of the Democratcic Party a question will be if the rank and file will fall in line.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Woke to Woke


For John, BLUFIn the area of "wokeness" we may be in a graveyard spiral.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

On the “radical intersectionalist poet” Titania McGrath.

From the April 2019 issue of The New Criterion.

Here is the lede plus three:

hose who doubt the operation of a beneficent, or at least an amusing, providence should consider the case of the British writer Titania McGrath.  Margaret Ann Bulkley may have decided to move to South Africa and live her life as a man.  But Titania McGrath, a Twitter sensation and the author of the forthcoming Woke:  A Guide to Social Justice, is “a radical intersectionalist poet committed to feminism, social justice, and armed peaceful protest.  A regular on the live-slam poetry scene, Titania regularly performs at arts festivals, deconsecrated churches, and genderqueer spiritual retreats.”  Nice!  Ms. McGrath was guyed by Private Eye forthe way she commended her book to the public:  “I have written the most important book of 2019.  Do not buy it for my sake, but for the sake of humanity.”

Shameless? Or in-your-face intersectional wokeness?

We incline to the latter view.  Ms. McGrath burrows deep into the contradictions of late capitalism, patriarchal privilege, toxic masculinity, white supremacism, and heteronormative binary exclusivity.  She is so woke she makes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez look like Sleeping Beauty.  Consider:  “If you don’t think exactly the same way as me,” she points out, “then you’ve clearly got a lot to learn about diversity.”  Could any triggered academic put it better?  “I despise whiteness.  Literally nothing about me is white except for my skin colour.”

Although she is British, Ms. McGrath outdoes Bill Kristol at his own game:  “It’s a broken kind of democracy that allows a majority of voters to impose their wishes on the rest of us.”  Yes!  Ms. McGrath cracks open the hard nut of oppression lurking inside all of us, all men anyway.  “Men who are attracted to women clearly have feminine tastes and are therefore probably gay.”  Again:  “I have posed nude for Penthouse in an effort to dismantle the patriarchy from within.”  And how’s this?  “If you only have sex with people you find attractive, you might want to ask yourself why you’re such a superficial bigot.”

Titania McGrath as described in Wikipedia.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Sunday, March 24, 2019

Like Citizenship, But Not


For John, BLUFBeing a "Dreamer" is apparently not a quarantee of citizenship.  That means that the US Congress has left us with an incomplete action.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Dallas News, by Reporters Ms Jennifer Emily and Ms Sarah Sarder, 21 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

A flight attendant who grew up in Dallas was released Friday afternoon from an immigration detention center after six weeks facing potential deportation following a trip abroad for her job.

Selene Saavedra Roman, 28, flew to Mexico in February from Houston after her employer, Mesa Airlines, told her she could safely travel abroad because she is a DACA recipient.

Saavedra, who is also married to a U.S. citizen, was detained the same day after the return flight.

On Friday afternoon, after news of her detention spread online, Saavedra was released from a Conroe lockup, her husband said.

This is one of the reasons we need comprehensive immigration reform.  The DACA Program, instituted in 2012, still does not have a path to citizenship.  This needs to be fixed and the fix needs to come from Congress, which is where legislation comes from.  Then the President needs to sign it.  What is the holdup?

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Frenchman BHL on Rights


For John, BLUFAn interesting conversation with a French Intellectual who tries to adhere to a philosophy without veering to one side or the other.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

“It is a duty, a moral duty, to hold firm the idea that there is no people, no ethnicity, forbidding democracy,” the world’s most famous French intellectual says.

From The New Yorker, by Staff Writer Isaac Chotiner, 18 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

“The history of France, a permanent miracle, has the singular privilege of impassioning the peoples of the earth to the point where they all take part in French quarrels,” the French author André Maurois wrote. With Bernard-Henri Lévy, it often seems that the world’s most famous French intellectual is taking part in everyone else’s quarrels.  Born in Algeria, to a Jewish family, B.H.L. (as he is known) made a name for himself as a journalist in East Pakistan, in the early seventies, during its struggle to become Bangladesh.  A few years later, he was part of a group of young French writers, called the New Philosophers, who broke decisively from Marxism and the influence of Sartre.  Over the past several decades, he has written philosophy and history and journalism, on subjects ranging from the war in Bosnia to the death of Daniel Pearl and the need for a strong stand against Islamic fundamentalism.

He has also, unlike some of his forebears, evinced a passionate love for the United States.  He retraced Tocqueville’s footsteps in a series of essays for The Atlantic (which became the book “American Vertigo”), speaks proudly of his “anti-anti-Americanism,” and has urged the United States to exercise its power, voicing support for military action in Libya.  (He played a large role in convincing the French government to help overthrow Muammar Qaddafi.)  His new book is called “The Empire and the Five Kings:  America’s Abdication and the Fate of the World,” and it explains why an American “retreat” from the global stage is likely to have calamitous effects, with other, less democratic countries filling the void.

Lévy has sparked controversy for a number of his stances, including his advocacy for France’s burqa ban, his “unconditional love” of Israel, and his criticism of the rape cases against the film director Roman Polanski, who pleaded guilty to statutory rape, in 1978, and fled to France to avoid imprisonment, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund.  Strauss-Kahn, a friend of Lévy’s, has been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct.  In 2011, New York prosecutors charged him with the sexual assault of a maid at a Manhattan hotel; the charges were dropped, but not before Lévy published a piece defending Strauss-Kahn, in which he questioned why a maid would have gone into Strauss-Kahn’s hotel room alone, and claimed that his friend had been “thrown to the dogs.”

Read it to see a person struggle to go below the top layer to find truth.

Regards  —  Cliff

Getting It Wrong About Charlottesville


For John, BLUFThey had me convinced the President was looking for some common neutral ground that included the neo-Nazis and the neo-Fascists.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Real Clear Politics, by Political Commentator Steve Cortes, 21 March 2019.

Here is the lede:

News anchors and pundits have repeated lies about Donald Trump and race so often that some of these narratives seem true, even to Americans who embrace the fruits of the president’s policies.  The most pernicious and pervasive of these lies is the “Charlottesville Hoax,” the fake-news fabrication that he described the neo-Nazis who rallied in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017 as “fine people.”
My question:  If President Trump were to yotally stop Tweeting, would the Mainstream Media also back away?

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Saturday, March 23, 2019

Bitter Clingers


For John, BLUFI admire the tenacity of these 2016 Bitter Clingers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

Even if it is never released, the public already knows enough.

From The Old Gray Lady, by Ms Caroline Fredrickson, President of the American Constitution Society, March 22, 2019.

The way it is written it could have been about the Democrats in 2016, minus the Wikileaks and Russian components.

The disappointing thing is that Ms Fredrickson doesn't recognize the damage she is doing to our Constitution and our form of Government.  All this because Ms Clinton ran a bad campaign?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Finding the Center of Mass


For John, BLUFThe flow of voters.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Hot Air, by Writer John Sexton, 22 March 2019.

Here is the lede:

CNN’s OutFront devoted a segment Thursday to something that should probably cause some concern among Democrats.  Reporter Jason Carroll spoke to moderate Dems in Lucerne County, Pennsylvania, i.e. people who voted for Obama and then flipped and voted for Trump in 2016, who are not fans of the way the party has been trending lately.  Specifically, they are not impressed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the new trendsetter for the party.
The thing is, CNN's Reporter wasn't pursuing this story.  These folks found him.

The good news is that this is the area former VEEP Joe Biden is from.  If he doesn't veer off down some left branch, he should draw these voters back to the Party.  Yes, Joe Biden.

As Democratic Party leaders absorb this trend the ride to the 2020 Election will become increasingly bumpy.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

One Take On Mueller Report


For John, BLUFNot every Progressive is drinking from the same polluted Russiagate pool.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the Tweet:
Glenn Greenwald
@ggreenwald
The Mueller investigation is complete and this is a simple fact that will never go away:  not one single American was charged, indicted or convicted for conspiring with Russia to influence the 2016 election - not even a low-level volunteer.  The number is zero.
5:13 PM · Mar 22, 2019
Glenn Greenwald
@ggreenwald
Compare what cable hosts (let's leave them unnamed) & Democratic operatives spent two years claiming this would lead to - the imprisonment of Don, Jr., Jared, even Trump on conspiracy-with-Russia charges - to what it actually produced.  A huge media reckoning is owed.
5:17 PM · Mar 22, 2019
Maybe this 17 February 2019 article by Professor Victor Davis Hanson, from American Greatness, sums up what happened:  "Autopsy of a Dead Coup".

I just listened to CNN give its headlines at 0830 and there is apparently no self-recognition of the fact that the basis of the probe, the Trump Campaign collusion with Russia, didn't pan out.  If we spin it to Russian meddling in US elections, then that is older than I am and is not Trump specific.  It was time for some humility, but it was "Orange Man Bad" the whole way.  Sad.  Very sad.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Friday, March 22, 2019

Abolishing the Electoral College


For John, BLUFIt is humor, but true.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




The Babylon Bee Stings on 21 March 2019.

Here is the lede:

The Electoral College, a political institution designed specifically to guard against rule by an angry mob, has drawn the ire of angry mobs this week, shocking dozens.
The horde of Democratic Political candidates seems to be ignorant of history and government and opposed to the Electoral College, including our Senior Senator, E Warren.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Book Banning


For John, BLUFIt is amazing that Prof James Peterson and his advocation of self-reliance is so triggering of certain classes of people.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Daily Signal, by Reporter Joshua Gill, 21 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

A New Zealand bookstore stopped selling Jordan Peterson’s book in light of the Christchurch mosque shootings, but continues offering “Mein Kampf.”

Management at Whitcoulls, one of the largest bookstores in New Zealand, said it would be wrong to support Peterson by selling “12 Rules for Life:  An Antidote to Chaos” in light of “some extremely disturbing material being circulated prior, during and after the Christchurch attack,” according to an apparent customer service email, likely referencing a photograph in which Peterson embraced a fan wearing an “I’m A Proud Islamaphobe” T-shirt.

The store, however, continues to offer Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and Albert Cooper’s “Why Islamic Society Is Not Compatible With American Society,” according to its website.

Here is an insightful Comment:
Of course they are going to sell Hitler's book, the Muslims and Nazis were allies.
And this is true.

A private company, so they are free to decide what they sell.  However, it is close to censorship, which is a very bad thing, although seemingly favored by some on the extreme left.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Thursday, March 21, 2019

A Right to a Lawyer


For John, BLUFI guess that Mr Harvey Weinstein doesn't deserve a decent lawyer, at least in the minds of some of the snowflake students at Harvard.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Telegraph (UK), by Reporter Harriet Alexander, 21 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

Harvard University has launched an investigation into law professor Ronald Sullivan after he agreed to represent Harvey Weinstein in court.

Mr Sullivan, the university’s first African American faculty dean, joined Mr Weinstein’s legal team in January, ahead of the June trial for rape.

Mr Weinstein himself was spotted on Wednesday meeting a private investigator, Herman Weisberg, who he has hired to assist in his case.  The two men met at a Cipriani Dolci restaurant in Grand Central station, with Mr Weinstein attempting to disguise his appearance with a black baseball cap and dark glasses.

Mr Sullivan, on joining Mr Weinstein’s team, felt the backlash almost immediately, as his students began complaining that his decision to represent the disgraced film producer traumatised them, and put them at risk.

So, Harvard students want to overthrow hundreds of years of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence.

This is a bad mark for college students in the US.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Monday, March 18, 2019

Someone From the Midwest Running For President


For John, BLUFIn this admittedly sympathetic review of Democratic Presidential Contender Peter Buttigieg, the Mayor of South Bend comes across as fairly thoughtful.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

Against the image of the millennial left, Pete Buttigieg appears to be a relatively prosaic Presidential candidate, but, in his own understated way, he is suggesting a sharp break with the past.

From The New Yorker, by Writer Benjamin Wallace-Wells, 9 February 2019.

Here is the lede:

Last week, Pete Buttigieg, the young mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who recently announced that he is exploring a Presidential candidacy, arrived in New York to meet the press.  First up, on Thursday, was an interview on “CBS This Morning,” where the show’s hosts seemed slightly impatient, like college-admissions officers who had been asked to interview a benefactor’s son.  Norah O’Donnell positioned her eyebrows skeptically.  “You’re thirty-seven, you represent a town of a hundred and two thousand people—did I get that right?  What qualifies you to be President of the United States?”  Buttigieg, who has pale skin, thick brown hair, and a formal manner, gave a self-deprecating laugh.  “I know that I’m the youngest person in this conversation, but I think that the experience of leading a city through a transformation is really relevant right now,” he said.  “Things are changing tectonically in our country, and we can’t just keep doing what we’ve been doing.  We can’t nibble around the edges of a system that no longer works.”  John Dickerson pointed out that other Democratic candidates were proposing very big ideas—Medicare for All, the abolition of private health insurance—and asked, “What is your idea that is so big that nobody would mistake it for nibbling around the edges?”  Buttigieg answered, “Well, first of all, we’ve got to repair our democracy.  The Electoral College needs to go, because it’s made our society less and less democratic.”  He went on in this vein, suggesting that electoral reform was essential, and promising that other policies, on security and health care, would follow.  Viewers were left with the image of an impressive and fluent young politician, whose presence in the Presidential race, and on their screens, had never really been explained
He is going to need a lot of luck.

Regards  —  Cliff

Framingham Goes For Nullification


For John, BLUFNullification is being resurrected, here in Massachusetts.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Boston Broadside, by Reporter Lonnie Brennan, 17 March 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

Welcome to Framingham! If you can get over the border, if you can overstay your visa, if you can find some way to get into the United States, Framingham’s City Councilor Margareth Basilio Shepard wants you to know that there’s a home for you in her city.

The Brazilian immigrant specifically wants to ensure that “documented and undocumented” alike feel safe and welcome in Framingham.  And, in a detailed proposal to her fellow city councilors, Shepard pushed to establish a welcoming study committee that will make sure Framingham will forever be known as a safe haven for illegal immigrants.

In a series of meetings and hearings, the councilors are now on board and pressing hard with their 9-0 vote (two members not present) to guarantee that all illegals, everywhere, know that Framingham should be their target, their destination, their home, because in Framingham federal immigration laws will be ignored.

The Council voted to establish a committee to formalize its commitment to illegals.  At its Feb. 19th meeting, person after person approached the microphone praising illegal immigration and urging a strong and inclusive city.

Sanctuary has a long and honorable history.  It is a sharp rebuke to the Federal Government, and in particular the US Congress, that Framingham, Massachusetts, is providing sanctuary to criminals who have broken US immigration laws.  Are those laws immoral?

But, maybe they have this thing by the wrong end.  Here is the penultimate paragraph:

In a rebuttal to Mr. Rizoli, Councilor Shepard said that no one could become legal in this country and that misinformation about becoming a citizen is the biggest issue to be addressed. “There are some people who are not as extreme as Mr. Rizoli, but also have questions and also don’t understand,” Shepard said. The councilor, who has some difficulty with the English language, said that most people are misinformed about immigration, and that she has been repeatedly asked, “Why you people don’t become a citizen? They have no idea, that for 20 years, that’s no way that anybody can become legal in this country.”
Except I have been to a naturalization ceremony, at Lowell's Memorial Auditorium.  A friend of mine, a Dutchman, became a US Citizen.  His wife was, at one time, the roommate of my Middle Brother's future Sister-in-Law, with whom I worked at Ramstein Air Base.  I love the connectedness of it all.

Regards  —  Cliff

Value From Religion


For John, BLUFhere is a pretty good discussion of getting value from religion.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

There’s nothing like trying to find a good synagogue to teach you that, when religion seeks meaning in pop culture not God, it no longer serves mankind.

From The Bookworm Room, by The Bookworm, 17 March 2019.

Long for a blog post, but a good look at religion and our culture.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Rep Tlaib re Rection to Rep Omar


For John, BLUFWe have a problem in Congress that exists because we are unable to get past the labels.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




That would be Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.).

From The Washington Free Beacon, by Mr Jeffrey Cimmino, 11 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) suggested Islamophobia drove Democratic lawmakers to oppose anti-Semitic statements made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.).

"Why do you think people in your own party reacted so strongly against what [Omar] said?" The Circus host Alex Wagner asked Tlaib in an interview released Sunday.

"You know, I'm trying to figure it out.  It's just this past week, I feel, and I know this would be somewhat shocking for some, but I think Islamophobia is very much among the Democratic Party as well as the Republican Party," Tlaib responded.  "And I know that's hard for people to hear, but there's only been four members of Congress that are of Muslim faith. : Three of them currently serve in this institution.  More of us need to get elected, but more of us need to understand as we come into this institution that I have a lot of work to do with my colleagues."

So maybe this has nothing to do with one's Faith but is all about Revanchism in terms of the Western nations deciding to settle Jewish Refugees in the Palestine Mandate (Eretz Yisrael).  Seen in that light we can understand why Representatives Omar and Tlaib feel strongly about the issue of Israel, although it is odd that they chose the Democratic Party for their home, given the Party's welcoming of refugees.

Is there a solution to this problem?  I don't think so, aside from some nation being willing to absorb the population of Israel, lock stock and barrel.  Where could they be put?  I am thinking the only place would be the upper mid-west of the United States.  Say in the area from Michigan to Montana.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Votes in America


For John, BLUFThe idea that non-citizens get to vote raises the question of the value of citizenship in the United States.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Hot Air, by Jazz Shaw, 9 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

In the Democrats’ rush to pass HR1, a serious snag emerged for Nancy Pelosi and the rest of her party’s leadership.  Republicans were able to force a vote on adding language to the supposed voting rights bill condemning the idea of illegal aliens voting in any elections.  It simply read, “allowing illegal immigrants the right to vote devalues the franchise and diminishes the voting power of United States citizens.”

Sounds fairly basic, right?  It’s already against the law for illegal aliens to vote in federal elections, though a few liberal municipalities have moved to allow them to cast ballots on the local level, such as in school board elections.  Surely this is one area where we can generate some bipartisan consensus, yes?  Apparently not.  Out of the Democrats’ significant majority in the House, they only managed to find six people who were willing to support the measure and it went down in flames.  (Fox News)

Illegal immigrants are causing Democrats some problems, including the issue of non-citizens voting.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Saving Even A Few


For John, BLUFEven a little bit is a lot in the face of adversary.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Spin, Strangeness, and Charm, 11 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Sometimes one runs into a story that, if it appeared in a novel, would stretch credulity.

The following Jewish rescue story is not only true, but its protagonist, Wehrmacht Oberleutnant [1st Lt.] Albert Battel, was honored posthumously by Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among The Nations” in 1981.  The Israeli lawyer and historian Zeev Goshen wrote a long and detailed article about the case in the Munich-based historical journal Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte (freely: Contemporary History Quarterly).  https://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/1985_3_5_goshen.pdf [in German].

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Monday, March 11, 2019

True Diversity


For John, BLUFIs Diversity something we owe others or something we honor for its value?  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Right Geek, by Stephanie S, 10 March 2019.

In which Stephanie S looks at diversity in terms of how it is; toxic diversity and genuine.  She kindly includes a table.

I would add that Genuine Diversity is inviting.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Women's Sports


For John, BLUFWe are looking at a possible cultural change, as Transgenders move to compete in Women's Sports.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Phantom Soapbox, by the Phantom, 3 March 2019.

Apparently there are male chemicals which give males advantages in athletic competition.

Here is the conclusion:

There are at this point two or three possible end results of this farce.
  • First, and most likely, the top ten "female" athletes in the world will be men.  That's where the gravy train is heading.  People like Davies and Navratilova will be forced from public life by a barrage from the shite-flinging SJW apes, and women's sports will become men's sports.  And then die, as women stop competing and men stop watching.
  • Second, and probably still fairly likely, the international sports committees will start feeling the quiet heat of every pissed off female on planet Earth, and create a special Trans-division where the men-in-dresses can compete with each other fairly.  Which will be a cause celebre for 15 minutes of fame, and then fade away quietly because nobody actually cares.  That's about the best outcome I can see, from a fairness and Humanity viewpoint.  Everybody plays fair, everybody gets along, and the Market is allowed to speak.
  • Third, the most unlikely but probably the most fun, every female on every Olympic team in every sport refuses to compete against the men in dresses.  They just down tools and walk out, leaving the IOC spluttering and shouting on the podium.  That would be a thing of beauty, a blow struck for freedom and fair competition by every competitor.
There you are.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Hispanics Who Vote Republican


For John, BLUFDemocrats may be counting on crushing President Trump in 2020, but they shouldn't count on sweeping the Hispanic vote, unless they are counting on all the illegal immigrants voting in the General Election.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Wash Post, by Data analyst and political columnist David Byler, 5 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus four:

Every few months, a strange thing happens in the news:  President Trump says something negative about Hispanics and Latinos or makes a new push for his border wall.  Someone then checks the polls and finds that his approval is well above zero percent with Hispanics and Latinos, and every journalist marvels that those numbers aren’t lower.  Then, before we have time to fully examine why Trump’s numbers with these voters are where they are, some other event bursts into the news cycle like the Kool-Aid Man and we all move on without figuring out this seeming conundrum.  A few months later, the pattern repeats.

We’re on the tail end of one of those loops right now.  Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency in an effort to get the wall built prompted some to dive into his numbers among Hispanics.  But other stories have started to crowd out wall news.  Before the mystery of Hispanic and Latino support recedes from the news cycle again, I decided to comb through the existing data and research on these voters’ decision-making to try to figure out how many of them support Trump and get a sense of why they do.

The data suggests that Republicans have a substantial, semi-soft floor with Hispanic and Latino voters and that Trump has basically hit it.  Moreover, this floor seems to built at least in part on identity and ideology, meaning that Democrats might not be able to eat into it by simply emphasizing immigration.

Finding the GOP’s floor

Trump often overstates his support among Hispanic and Latino voters — Democrats typically win the group by a wide margin, and Trump’s base among them isn’t huge.  But it is there.

Recent YouGov, Quinnipiac and Post-ABC News polls put his approval rating among Hispanics at 27 percent, 23 percent and 18 percent, respectively.  Those numbers average out to about 23 percent — that’s a substantial chunk, and it’s not so different from his 2016 vote share.  According to demographers Ruy Teixeira, Rob Griffin and John Halpin, Trump won 29 percent of the Latino vote against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

So, there is some fairly solid percentage of Hispanics who are conservative.  This is a surprise?

Here is the end of the take away last paragraph:

Trump’s standing with Hispanic and Latino voters ought to deliver a sharp wake-up call to Democratic strategists.  If a president who makes a border wall his signature and who demonizes immigrants from Latin American countries can still hold on to 30 percent of the voters most likely to be harmed by this rhetoric, Democrats are going to have to work harder to turn Hispanic and Latino voters into the base of their dreams.
As the analyst points out, the longer Hispanics living in America the more they identify as Americans, vice Hispanics.  This is not unlike immigrants from Europe.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fixing the Paper Currency


For John, BLUFWell, we can hope, can't we?  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is what the next Double Sawbuck should look like.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Friday, March 8, 2019

The Corbynization of the Democrats


For John, BLUFI lifted this blog post title from a Commentary podcast.  The reference is to British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

An inflection point in American political history.

From Commentary Magazine, by Editor John Podhoretz, 7 March 2019.

Here are the last three paragraphs:

People can play whataboutism games all they like, but not with me, people.  I’ve attacked Donald Trump over Charlottesville.  I’ve attacked Steve King for his racism.  Ilhan Omar is a despicable anti-Semite and rather than trying to find a way to separate themselves from her, the grandees of the Democratic Party are actually, or effectively, or implicitly embracing her.

This could be an inflection point in American political history—the moment at which the Democratic Party decided that it had to choose between Jews and intersectionality and chose the latter.

The question is what American Jews are going to do about it.

And what are Christians going to do about it?  And others who have mouthed "never again"?.

This isn't about Democratic Socialism, except to the extent Socialism is fundamentally a divisional political philosophy, rather tan a unifying approach to politics.  This is about the age old scourge of antisemitism.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Thursday, March 7, 2019

DC isn't Firenze


For John, BLUFThe author tells us that our Nation's Capitol is filled with people of vulgar tastes, and not much else.  No artistic talent for sure.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Pajama Media,by Writer Roger L Simon, 6 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

When you leave the country even on a short trip -- I am in Europe for ten days -- you get to look back at the USA with a bit of perspective, not so much as a foreigner but as a citizen with a little distance from the fray.

Walking around a not yet tourist-infested Florence in the shadow of Dante, Machiavelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo, giants of human civilization, you're struck by how little of interest or merit is going on now on both sides of the Atlantic — how small we have become, trivial actually.

We're a bunch of bores, really. Civilization is not at its height.  And that's not because we're living "Love in the Time of Cholera."  We don't even have the excuse of an epidemic, let alone war.  We're living "Envy in the Time of Tedious Petty Outrage."  John Brennan and Adam Schiff are symbols of our time, not Botticelli or Lorenzo de Medici.

Of course there was plenty of that good old-fashioned envy and backstabbing back in the Renaissance.  It's well documented.  But it's all we've got.  They had a lot more — a whole lot.

Not that I want to live in those days (flush toilets and jet travel), but there was talent around and not just a bunch of folks who couldn't move on.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

No More Hula For You


For John, BLUFWill people look back in these days and pity us for our inability to enjoy and celebrate other cultures?  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

  • The University of South Dakota Student Bar Association faced criticism over a planned "Hawaiian Day" party.
  • The university president has launched an investigation to determine whether free expression policies were violated.

From Campus Reform, by Mississippi Senior Campus Correspondent Adam Sabes, 4 March 2019?

Here is the lede plus three:

The Student Bar Association at the University of South Dakota says it was pressured to change the name of its “Hawaiian Day” party because it violates USD’s policy on inclusiveness.

According to the Argus Leader, a student submitted an essay to the USD law school administration, who then advised the Student Bar Association to change the name of the event.

The SBA changed the name of the event to “Beach Day” and then sent a message to their members stating that the dress code would still be the same, which was floral shirts and leis, according to the report. A second message followed, however, stating that the leis would no longer be part of the event due to complaints by the law school administration surrounding the inclusiveness of the leis.

“It was determined that these are culturally insensitive by the administration after doing research based off of the essay written by the initial complainant,” the message said, according to the report.

I think people should stop vacationing in Hawaii, as it is culturally insensitive.  And no Don Ho music and no Hawaii 5 0 TV Shows.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

  On the other hand, Mr Ho flew C-97s in the Air Force.

A Private Stasi


For John, BLUFThe idea of private organizations labeling groups so that public institutions can go after them seems fairly Unamerican.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




SPLC is the Southern Poverty Law Center, a known hate group favored by the left.

From PJ Media, by Mr Tyler O'Neil, 4 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus four:

Last Thursday, the Judeo-Christian law firm American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) sued Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) Executive Director Agustin Arbulu for using the arm of the state to quash their First Amendment rights.  Nessel and Arbulu had referenced the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) "hate group" labels in launching a new hate-crimes unit "to fight against hate crimes and the many hate groups ... in our state."

"It’s one thing for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a private organization, to engage in political propaganda and political hyperbole," Robert Muise, co-founder and senior counsel of AFLC, told PJ Media on Monday.  He said it's a violation of the Constitution "when you have the attorney general who’s relying on that political propaganda to investigate and target us with the power of the state."

"You now have the government giving its endorsement to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s nonsense — that now triggers our constitutional protections," Muise insisted.

He summarized the new policy in Michigan succinctly:  "'We're going to keep files on you.'  It's Orwellian.  It's Big Brother.  It's the thought police."

The AFLC lawsuit brings three claims against Nessel and Arbulu: violation of free speech rights under the First Amendment; violation of expressive association rights under the First Amendment; and violation of equal protection as guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment.

I am not sure that substituting the word hate for the words ignorant or stupid is doing us much good.  It sure doesn't do anything for civility.  Didn't the Democrats once promise us a "new civility?"

The Democrats, being the party of science, should realize that across the bell curve of human beings there will always be small numbers at both extremes.  Having those people will not change that.  On the other hand, love might shrink the numbers at the edge.

Remember the words of Governor Huey P Long, when Fascism comes to America it will call itself Antifascism.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Sanctuary Counties


For John, BLUFWhat goes round comes around.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Reuters, by Reporter Daniel Trotta, 4 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus five:

A rapidly growing number of counties in at least four states are declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, refusing to enforce gun-control laws that they consider to be infringements on the U.S. constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Organizers of the pro-gun sanctuaries admit they took the idea from liberals who have created immigration sanctuaries across the United States where local officials defy the Trump administration’s efforts to enforce tougher immigration laws.

Now local conservatives are rebelling against majority Democratic rule in the states.  Elected sheriffs and county commissioners say they might allow some people deemed to be threats under “red flag” laws to keep their firearms.  In states where the legal age for gun ownership is raised to 21, authorities in some jurisdictions could refuse to confiscate guns from 18- to 20-year-olds.

Democrats took control of state governments or widened leads in legislative chambers last November, then followed through on promises to enact gun control in response to an epidemic of mass shootings in public spaces, religious sites and schools.

Resistance to those laws is complicating Democratic efforts to enact gun control in Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and Illinois, even though the party holds the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature in all four states.

The sanctuary movement is exposing the rift between rural and urban America as much as the one between the Republican and Democratic parties, as small, conservative counties push back against statewide edicts passed by big-city politicians.

I can see where they are coming from.  Living in a rural area is not like living in a big city.  What works in Baltimore may not work in Podunk.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Monday, March 4, 2019

Close to the Wire


For John, BLUFRegarding the Mueller Report, I win either way, unless the books have been cooked.  The truth is inherently good.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

  • Attorney General Barr will decide how much to release and when
  • Democrats in Congress threaten to subpoena Mueller if needed

From Bloomberg, by Reporters Chris Strohm and Larry Liebert, 3 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

When Special Counsel Robert Mueller closes up shop and submits his long-awaited final report -- possibly within days -- it will be only the start of an explosive chain of events.

There will be a struggle in Congress, on cable TV and social media and probably in the courts over how much must be disclosed from what will begin as a secret report to Attorney General William Barr.

There also will be an epic political fight over whether the findings implicate President Donald Trump in wrongdoing that may even merit his impeachment, as some Democrats say, or clear him after a 21-month investigation that he and other Republicans call a “witch hunt.

Then the Writers go on to suggest the various ways this could unravel.

The thing that would be most interesting to me would be to look at how we got here in the first place.  What were the early machinations of the Hillary Clinton Campaign/Democratic Party and of the Department of Justice, or a combination of the two.  Or, maybe it would be better to not know, given the damage such a revelation would do to our society.

I am still pulling for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to be a straight shooter  At least his public side avoids the press.

Regards  —  Cliff

Huey P Long Foretells the Future


For John, BLUFDestroying art, or suppressing it, because we don't like the artist, or the artists political views, is pretty much like book burnings.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




That would be Mr Ezra Pound, noted poet, who turned to Fascism in the 1930s and 40s, as a reaction to The Great War (WWI).

From The New York Review of Books, by Mr Edward Mendelson, 27 February 2019.

Here is the key paragraph, from a 29 January 1946 letter by Writer W H Auden to his publisher, Mr Bennett Cerf, of Random House Publishing:

As you say, the war is not over. This incident is only one sign—there are other and far graver ones—that there was more truth than one would like to believe in Huey Long’s cynical observation that if fascism came to the United States it would be called Anti-fascism.  Needless to say, I am not suggesting that you desire any such thing—but I think your very natural abhorrence of Pound’s conduct has led you to take the first step which, if not protested now, will be followed by others which would horrify you.
Yes, Governor Huey P Long was able to see his Democratic Party today, from the 1930s.

The idea that we would suppress the art of someone else because of their politics should be anathema to all true Americans.  This isn't, after all, Europe or certain parts of Asia.

It is little wonder to me that folks are opting for cremation, given the current attitude, which any day now may trip over into digging up the bodies of the dead and desecrating them for past sins.

However, we should not just focus on the sins of a Michael Jackson, but also ask about all those people who enabled his sinful actions.  Why are we not talking about them?  Holding them to account?  Assigning them their share of the blame?

Regards  —  Cliff

Campaign Financing in Massachusetts


For John, BLUFThis seems very early to be throwing mud at possible 2020 candidates.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Boston Globe, by Staff Writer Andrea Estes, 13 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

It was just two weeks before the September primary in the state’s third Congressional district, and the latest poll had Lori Trahan in fourth place.

That’s when Trahan poured hundreds of thousands of dollars of new money into her campaign, dramatically increasing her TV advertising from previous weeks. In the closing days of the race, she overtook her rivals, beating second-place finisher Dan Koh by just 122 votes, then going on to easily defeat the Republican candidate in November.

But where did the money for the 11th-hour advertising spree come from?

Trahan has offered vague and conflicting explanations, claiming she tapped personal funds to loan the campaign $371,000 in 2018. However, the financial disclosures Trahan filed during the summer show she didn’t have anywhere near enough money to cover such big loans — mainly, she listed a joint bank account with her husband containing less than $15,001.

My question is, who did our US Rep, Ms Trahan, upset at The Globe, and over what.

Actually, the "what" is the more interesting question.

Regards  —  Cliff

Saturday, March 2, 2019

To Kill Theater


For John, BLUFIf professional theater producers are worried about the amateur crowd they must have some pretty big problems.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Boston Glob, by Staff Reporter Malcolm Gay, 1 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

Broadway just gave a community theater in Braintree the hook.

The 70-seat Curtain Call Theatre has become the latest to abandon an upcoming production of “To Kill A Mockingbird” after receiving a cease and desist letter threatening a major lawsuit on behalf of a powerful Broadway producer staging the play in New York.

The letter, received last week, cites a 50-year-old contract that places limits on amateur stage adaptations of the Harper Lee classic when there is an approved large Broadway or touring production — in this case Scott Rudin’s new Broadway version, written by Aaron Sorkin.

Besides shutting down of amateur theater appearing to have little financial impact on professional productions, including road shows, there is the counterproductive aspect of not encouraging interest in theater overall.  Then there is the loss of civic engagement and discussion from staging shows like "To Kill a Mockingbird."

This seems penny wise and pound foolish.

Regards  —  Cliff

White House Security Clearances


For John, BLUFThe Bureaucracy doesn't like people telling them to toe the line.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Boston Globe, by Reporters Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt, from The New York Times, 28 February 2019.

Misgivings on whose part?  President Trump or the Bureaucracy?

The President has his Son-in-Law, Jared Kushner, working a special project for him, involving peace in the Holy Land.  One might think that his chance of success might be enhanced by being current on background information.  But maybe not.

Regards  —  Cliff

Corruption Up North


For John, BLUFProbably being driven by the politics of Quebec.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

Just three weeks after the scandal broke, a former member of the Canadian PM's cabinet has testified that he tried to interfere in a criminal investigation.

From The Federalist, by Correspondent David Marcus, 28 February 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

While Americans were transfixed on Wednesday with the salacious, but not legally damning, testimony of Michael Cohen before Congress, a bombshell went off in the Canadian Parliament.  Former Canadian Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould testified before the House Justice Committee alleging that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others in his administration pressured her in “inappropriate” ways to reach a settlement with an engineering company that has been charged with crimes.

The company, SNC-Lavalin, is facing charges that it sent bribes to Libya, then under the rule of Gadhafi, in defiance of Canadian law.  If found guilty, the Quebec-based company will face severe sanctions, including a ban on working with the Canadian government. This would be a severe economic blow, especially in Trudeau’s home province of Quebec.

I believe Prime Minister Trudeau is in trouble.  Maybe not as much as Bibi, but more than The Donald.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff