Teachers v Parents

For John, BLUF:  The role of the Voter should not be overlooked.  Virginia Gubenatorial Candidate Terry McAuliffe did, and lost.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A Tweet About Teachers

.

Here is the Tweet thread extract:

Missus Bennet
@poornerves
I've been 50/50 about sending my kid back to school because I know he misses the social aspect of it, but then I see psychotic tweets from teachers like this.

Quote Tweet

Iowa teacher with a “sinister agenda”
@against_kim
· Jan 24
If it wasn’t for teachers, more kids would turn out like their parents. twitter.com/DeAngelisCorey…
12:17 PM · Jan 24, 2022·Twitter Web App

I think we can see a divide growing between parents and teachers.

Considering that the Parents, and their friends, pay the taxes and vote in the School Committee elections, they are not to be toyed with.  When my family left Wenonah, NJ, after I had completed 7th Grade. My academic performance increased quite a bit over the next year and my Father communicated that back to Mr John McQuade.  Mr McQuade, in turn, decided the school need a shaking up and ran a new slate of candidates, and they took over the School Board.  At least that is the way I remember it.  The teachers may think they are in the catbird seat.  However, the Voters have the final say, if they care.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Russian Population Bust

For John, BLUF:  Russia is not the only nation losing population.  China, South Korea Japan♠ have all lost total population.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Russia loses a million people in historic population fall

From France 24, 28 January 2022, 22:02.

Here is the lede plus four:

Russia's population declined by more than one million people in 2021, the statistics agency Rosstat reported Friday, a historic drop not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Ongoing demographic woes have been exacerbated by the pandemic with Rosstat figures showing more than 660,000 had died with coronavirus since health officials recorded the first case in the country.

The new figures continue a downward trend from the previous year when Russia's population fell by more than half a million.

The Covid-related fatalities figures published monthly by Rosstat are far higher than death figures released by a separate government website, which is dedicated to tracking the pandemic in the country.

Those government website figures only take into account fatalities where the virus was established as the primary cause of death after an autopsy and shows just 329,443 total fatalities.

This does not mean that Russia is about to collapse.  Far from it.  Russia is still a nuclear armed Regional Power.  Long Term, there are problems, but President V Putin will be in a nursing home before they impact Russia's foreign policy.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Japan’s persistent inability to reverse falling birth number includes a 2020 birth rate of 1.34 children per woman (2.1 needed to sustain a population), with just 840,000 babies born in Japan that year.  Thus, population peaked in 2008 at almost 128m, but last year dropped to 126m.

The Economic Future

For John, BLUF:  The economic future is a lilttle uncertain, and not because of fluxuations in the Stock Market.  Current events could damage the economy as we continue to endure a Pandemic and Russia and China threaten force to regain lost territory.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Mornings With Maria

Teases a Recession in 2023

I would have thought the pent up demand and the dearth of workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic would have sustained the economy for several years.

On the other hand, the Federal Reserve is concerned about rampant inflation, and is thus talkiing about a rate increase, perhaps in March.♠  At the same time, China's Chairman Xi, at a G-20, said the US should not increase interest rates.

Of course there is the issue of war and the impact on the petroleum market.  A spike in prices could be detrimental to the world economy.  Russia is a major supplier of petroleum to Europe and if that flow is cut off by a Russian invasion of Ukraine then European nations will bid up the price of oil to heat their homes and power their factories.♥

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  That means it will be more expensive to get a loan, including a home loan.
♥  The decisions of European nations to de-commission nuclear power plants now looks like a mistake in the near- and mid-terms.

Integrity in Science

For John, BLUF:  Science should not be treated like a religion.  Questioning should be endemic.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Team Biden’s plan to ‘ensure scientific integrity’ should start with itself

From The New York Post, by Law Prof Glenn H. Reynolds, 13 January 2022, 6:23pm.

Here is the lede plus three:

The Biden administration has announced a plan to “ensure scientific integrity.”  It’s about time.

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, in a 67-page report, says the task force aims “to ensure that science is conducted, managed, communicated, and used in ways that preserve its accuracy and objectivity and protect it from suppression, manipulation, and inappropriate influence — including political interference.”

It won’t have to look far: The United States government has been misbehaving on the scientific front for years, most notably in the COVID-19 pandemic.  Political interference, suppression, manipulation and inappropriate influence have been standard, which is why trust in government, particularly on science, has fallen so far.

Ironically, even as this initiative was announced, damning new information about government scientists’ response to the COVID-19 outbreak came out.  A series of just-released e-mails from top scientists revealed they were highly confident that the disease came out of a Chinese laboratory, even as their public statements treated any such suggestions as crazy talk, “conspiracy theory” and “misinformation.”

The COVID-19 Pandemic has gone a long ways toward discrediting "science".  One of the things I hope has been discredited is the expression "The Science is Settled."  Science is about delving deeper and gaining a better understanding of what is actualy happening.  As a result, science advances by hungery young sciences attacking the theories of the older, more experience, entrenched establishment scientists.  The new scientists breaking with the old scientists.  I remember a CNN newscast from around 1985, in which a guest said that 80% of what was scientific truth in 1900 we now knew to be false.

Let us respectfully question scientific truth, looking to see if there are seams in the seamless garment of science.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Squeezing the Border

For John, BLUF:  The COVID-19 Pandemic, like life itself, requires tradeoffs in which it is not all win-win.  Sometimes the Government Bureaucrats choose poorly.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Vaccine Mandate for Cross Border Trucking Now in Effect, Mandate for Domestic Trucking Begins in a Week, Prepare Your Affairs Accordingly

From The Conservative Three House, by Sundance, 16 January 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

The cross border vaccine mandate for truckers in/out of Canada is now in effect.  The U.S. vaccine mandate takes effect on January 22nd.

It will take a few days to see the consequences, but there will be consequences.

Keep in mind, any impact is taking place in a supply chain system that is already tenuous and unstable at best.  A small disruption that may have been minimally significant against a fully operational supply chain, is more likely to be a much bigger disruption in a supply chain that is already under a severe amount of demand side stress.  Somewhere in the range of 16,000 to 38,000 daily loads are likely to be impacted.

When questioned about this, Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic Leblanc says the trucking industry “has had adequate time to prepare for this.”  Keep in mind, the mandate was announced 45 days ago (November 30th).  According to the Canadian government, changing the structural rules for all the logistics and commerce in cross border shipping, 45 days is enough notice.

Yes, plan for shortages.  I am not thinking the bureaucrats have thought this out long term.  Or maybe they didn't talk amongst themselves.

As for the Truckers, "Last Year's Heroes, This Year's Zeros."

The good news is that we have a capitalist system, which gives flexibility to the economy, allowing individual entreprauners to adjust here and there, keeping the economy going.^nbsp; At least let us hope so.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

That Darned Filibuster

For John, BLUF:  The Democratic Party officials, elected and bureaucratic, are being hypocrites over the Filibuster.  Look at last week, where they filibustered a Senator Ted Cruz bill for sanctions on the NordStream 2 pipeline.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Democrats used filibuster 327 times, compared to only once by GOP in 2020: Report

From The Washington Examiner, by Editor Andrew Mark Miller, 26 March 2021, 06:18 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

President Joe Biden has been increasingly critical of the Senate filibuster, calling it a Jim Crow relic and saying it has been widely abused despite Democrats using it over 300 times in 2020, compared to once by Republicans.

“After @POTUS @JoeBiden denounced the rampant abuse of the filibuster last year, we did some digging,” Fox News anchor John Roberts tweeted Friday.  “Republicans used it once. Democrats used it 327 times.”

The kind thing to say is that the Democrats are hypocrites.

The unkind thing to say is they would sell their Mothers down the river for an edge in an electio.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Comparing Riots

For John, BLUF:  Some of us think the "Worst since…" rhetoric regarding Occupy Capitol Hill is a little overblown.  My comparison is the 1 March 1954 shoorup of the House floor (30 shots fired).  The Blogger linked below picks the May 2020 assault on the White House.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Flashback May 2020 Assault On The White House:  60 Secret Service Agents Wounded, President Trump Taken to Secure Bunker

Here is the sub-headline:

Let’s put this crazy J6 “insurrection” lunacy into perspective.

From Legal Insurrection, by Fuzzy Slippers, 8 January 2022, 07:30 PM.

Here is the lede plus three:

The Democrats’ January 6 clown show was worse than even I expected.  Their hysterical, pearl-clutching, lie-filled response to the events on January 6th, what Democrats are clearly hoping will be their transformative Reichstag moment, is unseemly, phony to its core, and purely and solely political.

We know this because there was no outrage over the leftist rioters who attempted to stop the peaceful transition of power during President Trump’s inauguration.  Not only did anti-Trump leftists riot, attack and injure police, set cars and buildings on fire, but they were later rewarded for this attempt to “subvert Democracy” to the tune of $1.6 million in taxpayer money.

Do you know how many Congressional Democrats (or Republicans for that matter) wailed about our “democracy” on the brink?  Do you know how many of these inauguration rioters were hunted down by the FBI, arrested, beaten and mistreated, and held as political prisoners for over a year?  Do you know how many of them were harboring blueprints of the Capitol building . . . or wait, that was an unconstructed, still boxed, Lego set not a “model” used for terroristic purposes or whatever random lunacy the FBI preened at that time.  If you said zero, you’re right on all counts.

And honestly, I think this clear two levels of justice—one for “righteous” protesters, including those who burned, looted, and murdered their way through Democrat-run cities in 2020, and one for J6 “terrorists”—is the reason that Democrats will never amass anything close to majority support for their January 6th witch hunt.

. . .

Nor did they condemn the multi-day May, 2020 assault on the White House that left at least 60 Secret Service agents wounded and forced President Trump to be whisked away to a bunker for his personal safety.

On 6 January demonstrators urned into rioters.  Rioting is bad, and should receive appropriate punishment.  The fact that it was Speaker Nancy Pelosi who was worried, rather than the Wife of Joe Sixpack, in Seattle or Portland or Kanosha or Waukesha should make no difference.  Ms Pelosi carries no title of nobility.

As to if 6 January was an Insurrection, if it was it was one of the worst in history.  No one brought weapons, not even pitch forks.  Who was going to run things?  Apparently not the man with the horned helmut.  Some people need some perspective.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Free and Fair Elections

For John, BLUF:  President Biden seems to think that the Republican Party, which fought for 100 years for the rights of Black People to vote, has turned into the Democratic Party of the Old South.  He is sadly, and damagingly mistaken.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden Says 2022 Election “Could Easily Be Illegitimate”

Here is the sub-headline:

“Oh, yeah, I think it could easily be illegitimate … The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is in proportion to not being able to get these reforms passed.”

From Legal Insurrection, by Professor William A. Jacobson, 19 January 2022, 07:00pm.

Here is the lede plus two:

oe Biden is setting the stage for Democrats to claim 2022 wins by Republicans would be illegitimate, based on the false claims of voting suppression that even CNN said were lies, CNN Skewers Biden’s Voter Suppression Lies. Yes, CNN.

Democrats are using fearmongering about “the end of democracy” in order to try to nationalize election controls away from states and local governments to lower election integrity. Unless Democrats can bust the filibuster — and that looks like it’s not going to happen because Manchin and Sinema are holding firm — then the voting bill is dead. (That vote may happen tonight.)

Democrats are expecting to lose bigly in the 2022 elections, so of course, Biden preemptively is suggesting the 2022 elections may not be legitimate. That’s just how Biden framed it at his press conference today:

I admit I am a bit confused.  Is the Presidenet saying that the election two years ago may have been illegitimate?  I know Democrats questioned the 2016 Presidential Election.  At Least Ms Hillary Clinton stated that.

Or is it that certain states have been doing evil things, rolling back COVID Pandemic exceptions to our commonly accepted voting practices.  Since Politics is a negotiation, I would be happy to offer up some options in exchange for Voter ID and signatures on Mail-in Ballots.  Is there a deal to be had?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Abolishing History

For John, BLUF:  Chief Justice John Marshall, our fourth Chief Justice, did much to shape the role of the US SUpreme Court as the third branch of our Government..  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Pressure Builds To Remove John Marshall From Cleveland State Law School's Name

From Tax Prof Blog, by Professor Paul Caron. 18 January 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

Pressure is mounting to change the name of Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law because of its namesake’s association with slavery. ...

[A] group of Cleveland-Marshall law students is pressing the Board of Trustees into action, as they become increasingly frustrated by what they see as the university dragging its feet on an obvious decision.  At the same time, City Councilman Kevin Conwell on Monday introduced legislation urging for the name change. ...

A year and a half ago, the college and Dean Lee Fisher assembled a committee to weigh the pros and cons of a name change.  The committee has since held six forums and issued a 46-page “framing document.”  A survey seeking students’ opinions is underway. ...

Fisher, in a statement to cleveland.com, said a potential renaming is a “consequential decision that requires careful study, and a thoughtful, inclusive process that considers different viewpoints” from the law school and CSU community.

That process, Fisher said, “has modeled what we teach our law students – to listen and learn and to withhold judgment until we have had a chance to evaluate what we have heard.”

The student group, Students Against Marshall, wants the board to remove the name ahead of spring commencement, so another class of law students won’t have diplomas bearing the name of a person who bought and sold human beings, said group member Emily Forsee.

One wonders if the student activists will countenance the mention of the Chief Justice's name in class?  Will the Law School no longer be allowed to discussed Marbury v Madison?  Will graduates be admonished to never cite Marbury v Madison orally or in written brief?

The man had flaws.  Even President William Jefferson Clinton had flaws, but yet we have not consigned him to Coventry, yet. Will they be demanding that the statue Chief Justice John Marshall be removed from the grounds of the US Supreme Court?

When are they coming for George Washington, First in War, First in Peace, First in the Hearts of His Countrymen?  I suppose the place to start is our Nation's Capitol, changing the name from Washington, DC, to Federal Capitol.  Or just go with District of Columbia.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Free Communication

For John, BLUF:  One of the reasons we have tensions within our democracy is that we don't trust the other side to protect our right to speak out.  As George Orwell said:  “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden’s FCC Commissioner Nominee Gigi Sohn Wants To Nuke Right-Leaning Broadcasters From Air

From Conservative Review, by Mr Jordan Boyd, 18 January 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

President Joe Biden’s nominee for commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission hates Fox News and wants the federal agency to regulate conservative broadcasts because she disagrees with them.

The White House first announced Gigi Sohn as Biden’s FCC nominee in October.

“Gigi is one of the nation’s leading public advocates for open, affordable, and democratic communications networks,” the Biden administration claimed. “For over thirty years, Gigi has worked to defend and preserve the fundamental competition and innovation policies that have made broadband Internet access more ubiquitous, competitive, affordable, open, and protective of user privacy.”

Sohn’s inclination towards censorship and partisan regulation, however, torpedoed her chances of confirmation. Biden re-nominated Sohn at the beginning of the year but her chances of gaining Republican support are once again slim considering her history of criticizing and painting TV networks she disagrees with as threats to our democracy that need to be punished.

In one 2019 tweet, Sohn hinted that Fox News should be scrutinized because they “have played their own role in destroying democracy.”

I thought the headline and early paragraphs were a littly hysterical, but then I read on.  Frankly, her views on Fox would be OK with me, if they were coupled with strong support for the First Amendment and the importance for democracy of airing all views.♠  Sadly, that doesn't seem to exist in her public utturances.

I am happy to see her on the FCC, as long as she is willing to support the free speech rights of all Americans, as did the ACLU,♥ back in the day of demonstrations in Skokie, Illinois.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  "I wholly disapprove of what you say—and will defend to the death your right to say it.”  Voltaire
♥  Funnily enough, today is the day, back in 1920, that the American Civil Liberties Union was founded.  Happy Birthday, but I am not sending a gift.

Names For Sports Teams

For John, BLUF:  Everyone is offended by something.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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No Sports Mascot Is Safe

From Tilting at Windmills, by Blogger Tom Knighton, 14 January 2022.

Here is the lede plus sevn:

I’ve always thought the outrage over mascots was rather stupid. After all, when a team picks a mascot, it’s a sign of respect.  They pick something fierce and dangerous, not something they deride.

Yet teams like the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians are no more, all because some people were offended—most of whom, it should be noted, were white.

It was declared that any team with an indigenous mascot was doing something vile and they should stop.

Not every team is listening, of course, but that’s the push because using another culture as a mascot is wrong.

Luckily, you can still use white cultures for mascots, right?

...

Western Washington University may scrap its Viking mascot and is currently conducting an investigation to help make a final decision on the issue.

…

But the verdict is out on the Vikings.  A “strong majority” of the university’s Legacy Review Taskforce recommended to trustees to remove “Viking” from the Viking Union.

“The Task Force was concerned about the harm caused by asking all members of the Western community to identify with a figure that is potentially exclusive on the basis of both ethnicity and gender,” the taskforce stated in its report.

I guess, name them for their towns and cities, or name them after their arenas.

When will we begin to go against the names of towns and cities?  When do we scrub Sacramento and Corpus Christi?  What about St Augustine, or even Richmond?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Terror in the Synagogue

For John, BLUF:  A few years back I gave a "Tactical Pen" to a woman I was working with who was the member of a synagogue.  I hope she never has to consider using it.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Question

From InstaPundit, Professor Glenn Reynolds, 17 January 2022, 11:10 PM.

Here is the Tweet Referenced:

Rising serpent 🇺🇸

@rising_serpent

A day later & nobody in the media is asking how a foreign terrorist entered the country, procured an illegal firearm & held up a synagogue without help and why he was killed when he wasn't holding hostages and why the FBI can figure out school parents motives faster than his.

It raises a fair question.  I was impressed with the rapid response by the FBI Team from Quantico, Virginia.

However, we wonder How did this happen, and why didn't the Home Office stop his travel and why didn't Immigration turn him back at JFK and how did he get from NYC to Texas?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Rolling Out Police Reform as an Executive Order

For John, BLUF:  The linked article is a rather sarcastic view of our President and his leadership, but it points out a problem—Executive Orders.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden Expected To Sign Police Reform Executive Order

From the Victory Girls blog, by Ms Toni Williams, 14 January 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

NBC News is reporting that Joe Biden is expected to sign an Executive Order on Police Reform since recent efforts in Congress have stalled.  The Biden Junta hopes that this Executive Order (EO) will shore up faltering support among Black voters.  Likely the policing EO will also give Biden an opportunity to rant against Donald Trump, always popular with the Left, insult half of America, shout for no reason and pound the little mini-desk in his fake Oval Office set.

The good news is that at least most of the Lefty Moonbats have stopped shouting “Defund the Police”.  The bad news is that there has been absolutely no effort at bipartisan negotiations on real police reforms.  A year and a half ago, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott wrote a not perfect bill with some police reforms.  When the Democrats wouldn’t take up Scott’s bill, he said it was because the Dems cynically wanted the issue, a divisive racial issue.  Read Deanna’s post here.

In 2020 and 2021, the Democrats have failed to move on the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act”.  Creepy Joe Bidenf has failed at absolutely everything he has touched (energy, supply chain, Afghanistan, to name a few) and he got a new dog last month.  So what’s a failed President to do?  Sign an Executive Order, that’s the ticket.

The use of an Executive Order is a sign of Congressional failure.  zzThe job belongs to Congress, and Congress is failing in this area.  Why can we not have a compromise as a step forward.

Which of our Congresscritters thinks an Executive Order is the way forward?&nbp; Does this not move us toward a nation that has moved from Democracy to Anocracy, as my Middle Brother would say?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Today's Holiday

For John, BLUF:  Today is a Federal Holiday and a moment to ponder how we go forward with our Americsn Project.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

I think Dennis Galvin, of Westford, put well Dr King's place in our history.  On the Lowell City Life Show this Friday last he described Dr King is the missing Founding Father.  Dr King was the person who advocated for the equal rights of all people.

Here is Dr King's "I Have A Dream" speech (28 August 1963):

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

It would be nice.  And something for all of us to strive for.

Regards  —  Cliff

Filibuster For Me, But Not For Three

For John, BLUF:  The historically favored tool of Democrats was challenged by Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid, but yet often used, and now, to pass a specific piece of legislation is being pushed for elimination.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Dems block Cruz's Nord Stream 2 sanctions bill

From The Hill, by Reporters Jordain Carney and Laura Kelly, 13 January 2022, 05:51 PM EST.

Here is the lede plus two:

Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked legislation from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to slap sanctions on businesses tied to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a win for the Biden administration, which believes such sanctions could damage relations with Germany.

Senators voted 55-44 on Cruz’s legislation, falling short of the 60 votes needed for it to pass. Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.) and Raphael Warnock (Ga.) joined every Republican save Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in voting for the bill.

The vote on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will carry gas from Russia to Germany, comes at a delicate moment for White House as it navigates renewed tensions with Moscow over its buildup of troops on the border with Ukraine.

I too disagree with Senator Ted Cruz's bill for sanctions on companies assisting in building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.  However, I am shocked, shocked to find that the Democrats used the dreaded, anti-democratic filibuster.  They just reached into the tool box, without looking, and pulled out the first item their hand fell on.

The Democratic Leadership on Capitol Hill is nothing if it is not dishonest and duplicitious.

Your job, and mine, between now and 8 November is to challenge all Candidates for Congress, Representatives and Senators (none in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), as to how they stand on the filibuster and its uses and abuses.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Solicitor General Gets An Ethics Waiver

For John, BLUF:  Ethics is a tricty area.  You might think it is unethical, but someone else might say it is necessary for a larger justice requirement.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden’s top Supreme Court lawyer granted ethics waiver to argue for race-based college admissions

From The College Fix, by Ms Margaret Peppiatt, of Franciscan University of Stuebenville, 14 JANUARY 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Department of Justice has granted U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar an ethics waiver, permitting the former Harvard professor to support race-based admissions in a Supreme Court case involving Harvard University.

Prelogar, who taught at Harvard Law School in the fall of 2020, was nominated for Solicitor General in August 2021 and confirmed by the Senate that October.  Under the Biden Ethics Pledge, Prelogar was prohibited from working on a court case relating to her former employer until two years after her appointment.

But the ethics waiver releases her to argue the case before the Supreme Court.

This is a two-for.  First is the ethics waiver.  Since the law suit is against the President and Fellows of Harvard College the waiver seems a little iffy.

Then there is the nature of the case, racial discrimination in college admissions.

In Students for Fair Admissions, Asian-American students argues Harvard discriminated against them in admissions policies based on race, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

I am of the opinion that Harvard switched from discriminating against Jews to discriminating against Asians.  In my mind, tainted by my belief in meritochracy, this kind of discrimination is unfair and un-American.  A period of quotas to reverse racial discrimination seems not unreasonable, but as a long term policy it seems wrong.  And, it seems counter-productive.  We should wish our best minds trained in our best institutions.

All that said, since the Biden Administaration has decided to fight on the side of Discrimination, they need a good Lawyer.  Perhaps Ms Elizabeth Prelogar represents the best available.  After all, she did teach this sort of thing (Ms Prelogar taught the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Workshop) at Harvard Law School.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Assaults on Congress

For John, BLUF:  I think that the 6 Janaury 2021 riot on Capitol Hill was wrong and an example of how crowds can get out of control.  I also think that Democrts are playing it for all it is worth, and then some.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Aaron Burr Summoned From The Dead By Speaker Pelosi

For What?

To Testify to a Former Vice President committing treason and getting away with it?

From The InstaPundit, by Law Professor Glenn Reynolds, 7 January 2022, 2:31 pm.

Here is the blog post, with link:

I THINK THE STUPID AND CRINGEY BIT IS THE WORST PART, BUT YEAH:  The Bigger Problem With The Hamilton Performance At the Capitol On January 6: “Dear Theodosia” is sung by Aaron Burr, who was an accused insurrectionist.  “In any event, celebrating an accused insurrectionist is not the right symbolism for January 6.”  Or maybe it is.  You know, all of the Framers were “insurrectionists,” actually.

Yes.  The riot on Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021 was wrong and those who incited it at the scene or caused property damage should get some jail time.  Those who just wandered through the Capitol Building, wandered through and exited, should be given community service for their tresspass.

But, inviting Aaron Burr to the first anniversary?  Chief Justice John Marshall ensured he was not convicted, but President Thomas Jefferson was sure convinced of former Vice President Burr's guilt.

Serious things happened on 6 January 2021, but Speaker Pelosi is staging theater to try to gain political advantage for the mid-term elections.  How else to explain the less than open House Select Committee on the 6 January riot on Capitol Hill.  I am not expecting a complete revelation of the facts from that particular theater production.

A lack of historic memory seems to be endemic amongst the Democrats.  They reach back to 9/11 and to Pearl Harbor and to the War of 1812.  They conveniently forget Mr James Hodgkinson shooting up the Republican Congressional Baseball team, back in 2017.  Four wounded, oone seriously.  And they forget 1 March 1954, when four dommestic terrorists fired 30 rounds from the Ladies' Gallery overlooking the floor of the House of Representatives.  Five Reprexsentatives were wounded, one of them seriously.

I don't think I woould go as far as Cartoonist Scott Adams, but his is an interesting idea.  The question of Mr Ray Epps and how he has been dropped as an FBI suspect is an interesting one.

Finally there is the actions of President Bidon to bring us all together.  My Middle Brother might tell me that the "Right" can't be brought together with the rest of America, but if that is so, why did Candidate Biden promise to do it?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff