Wither the Mass GOP

For John, BLUF:  Yes, the Editorial Board of The Boston Globe is correct to be concerned about the current state of the Massachusetts Republicans, but there is hope.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Time to fix the Massachusetts Republican Party

Here is the sub-headline:

It is on life support.  New leadership is crucial to revitalizing two-party politics in the Bay State.

From The Boston Globe, by The Editorial Board, 27 December 2022, 4:00 a.m..

Here is the lede plus two:

It can’t be fun being a Massachusetts Republican these days.  The party experienced not only a disappointing midterm season on the national level but also an absolute blowout in state elections.  The Grand Old Party of Massachusetts is not just impotent.  It has flatlined.

The numbers have been counted, but let’s count them again.  Come January, there will be zero Republican statewide officials; zero Republicans in the 11-member congressional delegation; and the Democratic supermajorities in both the state House and Senate will have actually grown larger.  Today the party has its lowest percentage of registered voters in Massachusetts since World War II and perhaps since its founding: under 9 percent.

No wonder Republican state Representative Shawn Dooley told the Globe earlier this month that “there is either real change on the horizon or there is no Republican Party in Massachusetts.”  Or that Ed Dombroski, who lost a state Senate race last month, wrote in CommonWealth magazine:  “No, we’re not tired of winning.  We’re tired of losing.”

I think The Boston Globe is identifying a problem for the MassGOP and for our Commonwealth.  Yes, our (my) MassGOP does not have enough elected officials to do the job of loyal opposition.  In fact, it is a pretty toothless tiger, and a lot of folks mock us for it.

The article has a rece3nt orientation; Governor CXharlie bwker, Chairman Jim Lyons, President Donald trump.  My experience, which goes back to before 2000, suggests that is a short range view aand ignoores the failures that have been with us for a couple of decades, perhaps longer.  When I ran for State Rep against Incumbent David Nangle (hope over reality) (2000, 29002), I received precious little help from the Mass GOP.  Later, when I was the City Chairman, I have one visit from a staffer, over a number of years.  My successor, Kam Kay, had the same experience.  In fact, the Governor or Lt Gov would come to Lowell, but instead of inviting me to meet them at the Owl Diner, they were off the local Democrats, building relationships  While tht might hve helped them on Beacon Hill, it did nothing for building the Mass GOP.

The idea that this decline of the MassGOP is related to President Donald Trump or the MAGA movement shows poor analysis.  The problems began before 2016.  For at least several decades there has been a divide between what my wife calls the "Downtown (Boston) Republicans and the GOPers in the hinterlands.  The Downtowners are more oriented with the Progressives in the General Court and those in the hinterlands are more conservaataivre.  It is no wonder to me that Jim Lyons was elected Chairman of the MassGOP, as many Committeemen anbd women are from areas disconnected from Boston and Cambridge.

Is there a future for the MassGOP?  In my lifetime a Massachusetts US Rep was Speaker of the Hoouse.  And, when I was youong the Primary Election in a number of Souothern States were determinative, since the Republilcan Party in those States barely existed.  Histoory suggests the Republican will bound back.  If not, it will bw replaced, as the GOP replaced the Whigs in the 1850s.  I expect the power of the Democratic Party in Massachusetts will result in overreach and thus lead to a rebound of the Republican Party in the stte. Regards  —  Cliff

Books Live On—I Hope

For John, BLUF:  Some people are collectors of books and some aren't.  I doubt the two groups will ever understand each other.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Recently, I threw some books in the trash... well, the recycling bin... but you know what I mean: I threw books out.

From Althouose, by Professor Ann Althouse, 18 Decembeer 2022, 12:36 PM.

Here is the lede plus two:

Recently, I threw some books in the trash... well, the recycling bin... but you know what I mean: I threw books out.  I wanted to tell you to help you.  I'm prompted by "We’re drowning in old books. But getting rid of them is heartbreaking.  'They’re more like friends than objects,’ one passionate bookseller says. What are we to do with our flooded shelves?" by Karen Heller (WaPo).

Book lovers are known to practice semi-hoardish and anthropomorphic tendencies.  They keep too many books for too long despite dust, dirt, mold, cracked spines, torn dust jackets, warped pages, coffee stains and the daunting reality that most will never be reread.  Age rarely enriches a book.

“Nobody likes to throw a book away. Nobody likes to see it go into a bin,” says Michael Powell of Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore.  Owners never want to see their hardback babies pulped.  Bibliocide seems particularly painful in this fraught era of banned books.  Hence, the sprouting of Little Free Libraries everywhere, and donations to public ones for resale, which enable staff to purchase new books.

At the Memorial Service for my late colleague and friend, Mark Hemenway, his Wife told the story of Mark saying to her "The difference between us is you love reading, but I love books."  That immediately resonated with me.  I worry that, upon my passing, my books will not go to people who appreciate them, but rather to a pulping machine.

It is a tragedy  On the other hand, by that point I may be focused on other things.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

The FBI and Social media

For John, BLUF:  I am seeing indications in the fringe media that folks think the FBI and other members of the Intelligence Community are in relations with the media, which are too close.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"The FBI and other law enforcement organizations treated Twitter as a 'subsidiary,' flagging numerous accounts for purportedly harmful 'misinformation'..."

From Althouse, by Professor Ann Althouse, 17 December 2022, 10:23 AM .

Here is the lede plus two:

"The FBI and other law enforcement organizations treated Twitter as a 'subsidiary,' flagging numerous accounts for purportedly harmful 'misinformation' since January of 2020, according to the sixth installment of the 'Twitter Files' released Friday. Independent journalist Matt Taibbi described the FBI’s relationship with Twitter as having a 'master-canine quality' with 'constant and pervasive' contact between the bureau and the social media giant.... Friday’s Twitter Files also revealed that the company participated in monthly meetings with not only the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, but also with the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.... Instead of chasing child sex predators or terrorists,' Taibbi summed up in a tweet following the file drop, 'the FBI has agents — lots of them — analyzing and mass-flagging social media posts. Not as part of any criminal investigation, but as a permanent, end-in-itself surveillance operation. People should not be okay with this.' The FBI told the Post on Friday that it... 'regularly engages with private sector entities... [which] independently make decisions about what, if any, action they take on their platforms and for their customers after the FBI has notified them'...."

The NY Post reports.

ALSO: There's this other article in the NY Post: "Twitter’s top ranks riddled with ex-FBI employees" ("More than a dozen former feds flocked to the company in the months and years prior to Elon Musk’s purchase of the social network in October").

I think the new Congress should look into the FBI, and the broader Intelligence Community.  If they can't get witnesses to testify, there is always the power of the purse.  While I think RFK, Jr, may be over the top in claiming his uncle (President John F Kennedy) was killed by the CIA, we have had to much ""trust me" and not enough Congressional Investigations.

We need a more open federal Government.

Hat tip to the Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Lord Nelson's Blind Eye

For John, BLUF:  Admiral Nelsoon was famous for putting his telescope to his blind eye when he did not like the signal he was getting.  In his case it worked out well.  Our Media, not so much.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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HE’S NOT WRONG, YOU KNOW:

Here is the Tweet:

Dinesh D'Souza
@DineshDSouza

The mainstream media can’t risk covering #TwitterFiles.  If they admit rampant collusion between govt agencies and Twitter, they’ll have to inquire about Facebook, YouTube, Apple, Google.  The whole censorship regime would unravel.  Better to pretend nothing’s happening! @elonmusk

This does seem to be the logical explanation.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Bad Legislation

For John, BLUF:  The Democrats seem to still be concerned by the possibility President Trump might run again in 2024.  They are prepared to go to strange extremes to prevent such a thing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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H.R.9578 - To provide that Donald J. Trump is ineligible to again hold the office of President of the United States or to hold any office, civil or military, under the United States.

Thiss bill has been introduceed by Repreentative David N. Cicilline, Demoocrat of Rhode Island.  It is based upoon Representative Cicilline's understanding of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which states:

‘‘No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.’’.

I found this little jewel in Conservative Review, in an article titled:  "House Democrats Introduce Legislation That Would Bar Trump From The Presidency". This Bill has picked up 40 co-sponsors, includiing Representative James P. McGovern, Democrat of Masssachusetts Disterict 2.  The good news is that our Representative, Ms Lori Trahan, has not signed onto this legislation.♠

This proposed legislation, based on a Post-Civil War Amendment to the Constitution (14th Amwndweent), seems deficient to me.  It is an attempt to bar Former president Trump from serving as President again.  Or serving in any other office.

The problem is, President Trump has not yet been convicted of any crimes under the 14th Amendment.  Almost two years after the 6 January 2021 riot on Capitol Hill he has not yet even been indicted for any crime.  As an aside, if it was an insurrection on the part of President Trump isn't it the height of incompetence that the legal institutions have not yet done anything to bring him to "justice"?  Are we looking at one more self-indictment on the part of the Biden-Harris Administration?

Then there is the American voter.  While the media is moving to minimize the importance of the Twitter suppression of the original New York Post article on the Hunter Biden Laptop, the American People are giving it credibility..  Breitbart told us on 12 December of this year:  "Poll: 71% Say Accurate Reporting of Hunter’s Laptop Could Have Altered 2020 Election".  That is could vs would, but it is still an indication that the voting public is not to be toyed with for perverse political gain.

I think the US House of Representatives needs to let this piece of legislation die with the end of the 117th Congress.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Yes, I did take the time to Call Representative Trahan's Lowell Office and say that I thought this was a bad piece of legislation.

2020 Election Campaign Reexmined

For John, BLUF:  It is not possible to go back and say what would have happened if information had come to light before an election, but it should make us careful to ensure such information manipulation is reduced in the future, which falls on the Press and other media.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Kash Patel wants to know about the role of Wray and Barr in the FBI and DOJ liaison with Twitter

From The New Neo, by Herself, 14 December 2022.

Mr Kash Patel asks sojme questions. Here is the lede, a tweet:

The Dirty Truth (Josh)
@AKA_RealDirty

#KashPatel: The only way there would be this level of engagement from the FBI/DOJ with Twitter is if Bill Barr and Christopher Wray personally authorized it. If @elonmusk doesn’t release, everything subpoenas need to go out because nothing is ever deleted at the FBI.

Further down she writes:

I would guess that Wray and Barr would say the briefings were to warn about “Russian disinformation” that might affect the 2020 election. But weekly face-to-face meetings? Seems like a lot more must have discussed than that.

What are the legal ramifications of what happened between Twitter and the government actors, whomever they were? Philip Hamburger writes about it in the WSJ (I can’t read the whole thing because of the paywall, but Instapundit has a hefty excerpt):

Cooperation between government officials and private parties to suppress speech could be considered a criminal conspiracy to violate civil rights. The current administration won’t entertain such a theory, but a future one might.

The fundmentl question for the Voters is if the 2020 Election was perverted by forces inside our Federal Government.

As far back as August of this year The New York Post headlined:  "79% say ‘truthful’ coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop would have changed 2020 election".

And, one wonders how the political science professors in academia are looking at this?  Are their Progrewsive views at war with any insights that President Trump would have won if a cabal had not suppressed the truth about the Hunter Biden Laptop?  I don't believe the likes of Speaker Nsncy Pelosi give a fig for clean and fair process, but it could come back to bite them if other parties adopt the same approach to elections.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Today's Election

For John, BLUFI thought we were making progress on race relations and integration, but then I read something like this:  .  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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HERSCHEL WALKER IS AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY

Here is the sub-headline:

Black bodies, white agendas

From , by Poet Caroline Randall Williams, DECEMBER 06, 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

Commodity.  Chattel.  Contraband.  Capital.  What is a Black body in the South?  What is a Black southern man, carted out to work a white-owned field?

It’s impossible today to talk about Black men and white agendas without talking about Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for Senate in the runoff election in Georgia.  But in order to talk about Walker, I’ve got to start in what may be his actual state of residence, Texas.

Per The Atlantic, the author, Ms Caroline Randall Williams is a poet, the television host of Discovery Plus’s Hungry for Answers, and a writer in residence at Vanderbilt University..

It is interesting to me that in my lifetime the roles of the political parties have reversed.  When I was young the Democrats were, mostly, the party of racism and the Deep South.  If not all the politicians, at least the power in the US Congress.  The Republicans were the party of integration and equal rights.♠

Ms Williams sees Candidate Hershal Walker as a mere schill for cynical Republicans.  Senator Warnock, by implication, is seen as the paragon of virtue.  She is apparently not aware of the small demographic shifts that see Black and Hispanic Voters moving toward the GOP.  This shift is, apparently, driven by the issues facing the nation, such as jobs, crime, immigration, inflatin and education.

This is sad.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠ As is always the case, there were exceptions.  I spent Elementary School in a Sundown Town in South Jersey.  The Mayor conceived of the town as Republican.
♥   This is notwithstanding the actions by Reverend Warnock, such as his actions during his divorce and his actions with regard to his Church's housing project.

A Secret Insight

For John, BLUF:  The Biden Administration has been dooing almost everything in its power to weaken US Oil Production.  Why?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Did Biden Seal a 'Clandestine' Saudi Oil Deal to Manipulate Prices Ahead of the Midterms?

From PJ Media, by Reporter Ryan Ledendecker, 5 December 2022, 10:30 AM.

Here is the lede plus two:

Back in July, a seemingly desperate President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia on a high-stakes trip where he met the Saudi Royal family, including the controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The president took a lot of heat for the trip for several reasons, including his scheduled meetup with the crown prince, who had previously signed off on the murder of WaPo journalist Jamal Khashoggi.  Biden was also criticized for appearing to use the trip to request help from a foreign nation on the oil production front, though the White House denied that was the case.

However, in a bombshell revelation this week, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who will soon lead the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee, announced that his committee will investigate what he believes to be a “secret deal” with Saudi Arabia regarding increasing OPEC+ oil production to manipulate the U.S. energy market ahead of the 2022 midterms.

I find it fairly cynical to think that the Biden Administration would manipulate world oil markets for the purpose of winning Congressional races in a mid-term election  That would have been a very cynical move, one disrespectful of petroleum woorkers across the nation.

Calling for increased oil production around the world, in the face of perceived climate change makes no swnse, unless there are other humanitarian factors in plan.

I think the Biden Administration has stumbled onto a problem in the mid- to long-term.  I don't knoow what it is, but I would look at the coming winter and Europe's shortage of energy, given the War in Ukraine and the various embargoes ongoing around the world.  What if President Biden is trying to increase oil production around the world, with the US as the hidden backup, when all else fails?  That makes much more sense.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Ms Clinton equates Pro-Life with Terrorism

For John, BLUF:  I think Senator Clinton just got carried away with her rhetoric; at least I hope that is the case.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Hillary Clinton Says Saving Unborn Babies from Abortion Is Like…Terrorists Killing, Raping Women

From , by Reporter Catherine Salgado, 27 December 2022, 4:06 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

Iranian protests against oppressive, misogynistic laws have led to over 14,000 arrests and a government decision to execute an unknown number of protestors.  Afghanistan’s ruling power, the terrorist Taliban, murders, rapes, and abuses women on a daily basis.  Russian soldiers reportedly weaponized rape in Ukraine.  All of which, in Hillary Clinton’s mind, is equivalent to Arkansas’s pro-life legislation restricting the abortion of innocent unborn babies.

Most of us did a double take on that, but not PBS’s Christiane Amanpour.  When failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton went on Amanpour and Company to discuss the women’s rights summit the Clinton Presidential Center is hosting, Amanpour didn’t seem disturbed by Hillary equating the saving of unborn babies with raping and shooting women, according to LifeNews.

Amanpour asked Clinton about the “unfinished business” of women’s rights, and Hillary knew exactly which countries to bash.  “But we are also in a period of time where there is a lot of pushback and much of the progress that has been, I think, taken for granted by too many people is under attack,” Clinton pontificated. “Literally under attack in places like Iran or Afghanistan or Ukraine, where rape is a tactic of war, or under attacks by political and cultural forces in a country like our own when it comes to women’s health care and bodily autonomy.”  Because pro-lifers are so similar to the Taliban!

We don't really think that Senator Clinton equates Pro-Life people with Terrorists, do we?  That would be equating criminal activity with the right of the State to protect, at some point, the life of an unborn child for the convenience of the Mother carrying the child.  That seems like an unbalanced argument.

In our pluralistic society it does not seem unreasonable to allow abortion to save the life of the Mother, or, early on, in the event of rape.  Incest as a separate category ignores that it is usully rape, and when it is consenual the idea of abortion sounds more like eugenics.  At some point the child conceived should begin to gather his or her own rights.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Avoiding Peace in the Middle East

For John, BLUF:  J Street?  A Progressive Jewish Advocacy group..  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Welcome, Bibi:  Blinken To Headline Anti-Israel J Street Conference

Here is the sub-headline:

Move seen as shot at incoming Israeli prime minister Netanyahu

From Washington Free Beacon, by Adam Kredo, 1 December 2022, 4:50 pm.

Here is the lede plus four:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to headline a conference held by one of the foremost anti-Israel groups in the country, a move that is being interpreted as a shot at Israel's newly elected government led by incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Blinken on Wednesday announced that he will serve as the headline speaker at the annual conference for J Street, which as recently as last month trashed Netanyahu, accusing the incoming prime minister of "building and bulldozing [his] way to permanent, undemocratic control of the West Bank."  The group also advocates conditioning U.S. aid to Israel, routinely attacks the Jewish state for defending itself against Palestinian terrorism, and employs notoriously terrible pumpkin carvers.  It is funded by liberal anti-Israel billionaire George Soros, though the organization initially tried to hide this fact, as well as by far-left groups such as the Ploughshares Fund, one of the chief proponents of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

The conference kicks off this weekend, with Blinken set to address the confab on Sunday, alongside former Bernie Sanders adviser and longtime Israel critic Matt Duss, Daily Beast writer Wajahat Ali, a cadre of pro-Palestinian activists, and several Democratic members of Congress, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) and senator-elect Peter Welch (D., Vt.).

Blinken's decision to attend J Street's headline event is eliciting concerns at Foggy Bottom and sparking outrage among friends of the Jewish state already aggrieved at the Biden administration's decision last month to launch an unprecedented FBI investigation into the death in Israel of a Palestinian-American journalist.  Israel determined that the journalist was unintentionally shot by its security forces during a standoff with Palestinian terrorists.

Multiple sources, both within and outside the State Department, who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon said Blinken's decision to attend J Street's conference is part of an effort by the Biden administration to undermine the new Netanyahu government and distance itself from the incoming prime minister's conservative coalition.

While some may think of the Democrats as being anti-Jewish, I think it is more a case of President Biden viewing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an ally of Former President Donald Trump, and therefore baiscally persona non-grata.  It follows the pattern of the Biden Administration seeming to ignore the Middle East initiatives of the Trump Era,  I am surpriaed that SecState Blinken did not return the US Embassy to Tel Aviv.

During the Presidency of Donald Terump progress was made toward a broader peace in the Middle East.  That progress and momentum seems to have been lost.  I wonder if we can get it back?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff