Reading The Supreme Court

For John, BLUF:  Once in a while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer lets his mouth get ahead of his brain.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Huh? Chuck Schumer Slams ‘MAGA Supreme Court’ After A Unanimous Decision

From The Daily Wire, by Tim Meads, 27 May 2023.

Here is the lede plus five:

Democrats attempt to smear anybody who goes against their agenda as a “MAGA” extremist — even if those individuals are liberal members of the United States Supreme Court.

For example, this week, the Supreme Court released a unanimous 9 – 0 decision against the Environmental Protection Agency and the Biden administration, thereby drastically cutting back the federal government’s overreach. So, what did Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) do? Well, he threw them all under the bus with a warning to Americans.

“This MAGA Supreme Court is continuing to erode our country’s environmental laws,” Schumer tweeted. “Make no mistake—this ruling will mean more polluted water, and more destruction of wetlands. We’ll keep fighting to protect our waters.”

This MAGA Supreme Court is continuing to erode our country’s environmental laws.

Make no mistake—this ruling will mean more polluted water, and more destruction of wetlands.

We’ll keep fighting to protect our waters. https://t.co/wlp1LTvZJB

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 25, 2023

How do we read this?  Is Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D,Y) saying that President Biden's nominated Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, approved by Mr Schumer's Democrat controlled Senate, is really a secret Trump Supporter and MAGA Republican?  This is squarely on Mr Schumer.

Or does this mean that Mr Schumer is especially bad at Math?

Or does it mean MAGA is the new universal word for evil?  As in all the Supreme Court Justices were evil to constrain the EPA, and thus are MAGA?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Memorial Day 2023

For John, BLUF:  All gave some.  Some gave all.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Memoriaal Day

Originally known as Decoration Day

Most of us know someone who died while serving in Uniform.  The first persoon I knew was a classmate at the Air Force Academy, William Hickox, who died in a plane crash enroute to compete in the 1961 Olympics.

But others also, including a Classmate who died in an aircraft mishap in pilot training.

My wife's late husband died in an aircraft mishap oover the Pacific, on day 179 of a 90 day Temporary Duty assignment to Okinawa.

Fate is fickle.  During my first tour in Southeast Asia my squadron lost no aircrew.  We had two aircraft badly banged up during emergency landings.  On the other hand, my Pilot Training Roommate died on his first mission out of Camh Ranh Bay, when his front sester flew them into a mouontain.  And being a war, there were others.

People have been sacrificing for this nation from when it was a hope in the minds of the Founders.  We should take a moment to think about those people.  Pray if one prays.♠  Or, just reflect and carry that reflection to the polling place the next time there is an election.  Exercising the right to vote is a proper payback for the sacrificies remembered on Memorial Day

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  My Youngest Son and his Wife and four Kids just drove to a local cemetary, to pray for the fallen. Both he and his Wife are "Service Brats" and thus more aware than some of the costs of service.

Ms Griner Stands Up

For John, BLUF:  Ms Brittney Griner has not always been easy on the U nited States.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Brittney Griner plays in first game since detainment, says hearing national anthem 'definitely hit different'

Here is the sub-headline:

Griner spent nearly 10 months in a Russian prison

From Fox News, by Reporter Joe Morgan, 13 May 2023 10:40am EDT.

Here is the lede plus one:

Seven-time WNBA All-Star Britney Griner returned to game action on Friday for the first time since being arrested in February 2022 at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport after authorities discovered vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.

Griner spent nearly 10 months in a Russian prison after she pleaded guilty to drug charges, and she returned to the United States in December after a prisoner exchange.

I take her comment to be a kind statement about her Country and applaud it.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Good Contest in 2024

For John, BLUF:  This is about our Senior Senator, Ms Elizabeth Warren, and her reelection chances.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Shock Poll: Dem Elizabeth Warren Surprisingly Vulnerable, Trails GOP’s Charlie Baker by Double Digits

Here is the sub-headline:

Former Gov. Charlie Baker (R-MA) holds a double-digit lead over Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in a hypothetical U.S. Senate race match-up in Massachusetts, according to a poll.

From Breitbart, by Reporter Nick Gilbertson, 11 May 2023.

Here is the lede plus three:

The poll, conducted by the Fiscal Alliance Foundation, shows that 49 percent of the likely voter respondents would back Baker if he announced a bid, placing him 15 points ahead of Warren at 34 percent.

Moreover, the moderate Republican leads by a wide margin with independents, as Fiscal Alliance Foundation spokesman Paul D. Craney noted in a release associated with the survey:

Senator Warren has significantly higher unfavorable numbers than her fellow Democrats statewide and that seems to be creating an opening for Baker, who always enjoyed large amounts of cross-party appeal. Looking at the cross tabs, Republicans seem to coalesce behind Baker (79%) in a way that Democrats do not around Warren (56%), and Baker leads with independent/unenrolled voters 2-1 at 57-26%.

Warren’s favorability rating is 5 points above water, with 49 percent finding her favorable and 44 percent saying she is unfavorable, including 35 percent who find her “very unfavorable.” As Craney pointed out, her favorability rating indicates she is far less secure than some of her fellow prominent elected Democrat officials in the Bay State.

I had not even been thinking of this.  But, she is a Class 1 Senator and thus up for election in November 2024.♠  Senator Warren has been serving since January 2013.

I don't believe Governor Baker is all that popular with the Conservative wing of the party.  On the other hand, President Biden could drag down the Democratic ticket.

I can support Charlie Baker as our Senator.  He is not as Conservative as I would like, but he would be good rightward shift from Senator Warren, and a chance to return to a bipartisan delegation in Washington.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Our Junior Senator is Class 2, and thus up for reelection in NOVEMBER 2026.

Housing Illegal Immigrants

For John, BLUF:  Chicago has been receiving hundreds of illegql immigrnts and ran out of places to put them up, so are now looking at converting unused schools.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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OOPS! Chicago Democrats in Trouble With Black Voters Over Migrant Invasion of South Side

From PJ Media, by Reporter Megan Fox, 11 May 2023, 11:49 PM.

Here is the lede plus six:

Chicago got a lot more than it bargained for when the people voted for “sanctuary city” policies.  Taking them at their word—that they would welcome hordes of illegal aliens—the governor of border state Texas, Greg Abbott, has been sending busloads of people who cross into his state illegally right to the heart of Chicago.  It’s the best idea anyone has come up with yet. Let the sanctuary cities become the new border towns! Let the blowhards who say it’s inhumane to turn people away absorb them! Afterall, they’re the compassionate ones, right?  They’re the ones who continually point the finger at the border state governors and criticize their reluctance to take on the never-ending human waves.  So why, when they’ve now been given the chance to welcome them with open arms, is there trouble in sanctuary paradise?

The mayor of Chicago, Beetlejuice Lori Lightfoot, wrote a letter to Abbott last week begging him to stop sending the people she said she wanted.

Lightfoot said that Texas was planning on sending more migrants to Chicago starting Monday, which she argued against, noting that Chicago does not have the resources to house more migrants.  She said in the letter that since Chicago has responded to the arrival of migrants sent by Texas in August 2022, the city has cared for more than 8,000 people.

She wrote that Chicago has “no more shelters, spaces, or resources” to address another influx of migrants to the city.

Abbott continued sending busloads.

And now one community in Chicago has found out that one of their school buildings is going to become temporary housing for the masses of people flooding into Chicago with no background checks or paperwork.  They don’t like it one bit and the really funny part is they’re all Democrat voters.  Democrats have a total lock on the black vote but they found themselves in front of a near riotous crowd of their own voters when they delivered the bad news.

Alderman Michelle Harris of the 8th Ward said, “While this crisis may constitute an emergency for the city of Chicago it does not constitute an emergency for the South Shore community!”  She joined with her constituents in protesting the placement of 250 to 500 people in an abandoned school.  The board making the decisions were loudly shouted down.  Everyone involved in this is a Democrat, and it’s hilarious.

You can tell the author of the piece is not a Democrat by the way she tells the story.

As illegal immigration becomes a national issue, rather than an issue for border states, the attitude of voters may change, in quiet and subtle ways.  The Elites in the Northeast section of the nation are not welcoming to illegal immigrants.

It is unlikely the surge of illegal immigrants with the end of Title 42 COVID-19 Rules will reconcile US Voters to acceptance of mass illegal immigration.  If the Biden Administration does not clean up this immigration mess it will likely influence the 2024 Presidential Election.  The advantage will go to the Republicans.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Maxine Paddling Up Stream

For John, BLUF:  She claimed her opponent had a dishonorable discharge, from the Navy, which wasn't true.  He sued.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Libel Suit Against Rep. Maxine Waters Can Go Forward

From The Volokh Conspiracy, by Law Professor Eugene Volokh, 10 May 2023, 5:30 PM.

Here is the lede plus three:

From Collins v. Waters, decided today by the California Court of Appeal, in an opinion by Justice John Wiley, joined by Justices Grimes and Viramontes:

In 2020, challenger Joe E. Collins III and incumbent Maxine Waters competed for a seat in Congress.  During the campaign, Waters accused Collins of a dishonorable discharge from the Navy.

Collins shot back that he had not been dishonorably discharged. He showed Waters a document saying so. This document apparently was official.  There was nothing suspicious about its appearance.  The document, if genuine, would have established without doubt that Waters's charge was false.

Waters easily could have checked its authenticity, but did not.  Her appellate briefing asserts that today, years later, she still does not know the truth about whether Collins's discharge was dishonorable.

Later the document mentions a DD 214, which is a form issued when one is discharged, listing things like one's discharge status and awards and decorations.

I think Representative Waters was a little too quick to dismiss her challenger as unworthy.  She could lose this after the appeal.  It won't change the election outcome, but it might change the minds of voters.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Captain Down

For John, BLUF:  Radio personality Howie Carr (WRKO—680) passed out on air Monday when I wasn't listening.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Howie Carr Note:

Here is the Globe headline:

Radio talk show host Howie Carr recovering after fainting on air: ‘I’ll be back in a couple days’

From The Boston Broadside and from The Boston Globe, by Globe Reporter Kate Armanini, 9 May 2023, 11:01 a.m..

Here is the Boston Broadside note:

As many know, talk show host Howie Carr went abrupty off-air mid-sentence on Monday - he mumbled few incoherent words then seemed to collapse/slump next to his microphone. He was hospitalized. We'll post more as info becomes ava ilable.

Here is the lede plus three from The Boston Globe:

Longtime Boston talk radio host Howie Carr is recovering after fainting on the air Monday.

“I’ll be back in a couple days, but I’m fine,” Carr said in a brief phone interview.

Carr, 71, known for his conservative views and staunch support of former president Donald Trump, has been a major figure on New England radio since the 1980s. His daily broadcast on WRKO 680, “The Howie Carr Show,” is syndicated on more than 20 stations. He is also a columnist for the Boston Herald.

During his program on Monday, he appeared to lose consciousness behind his microphone, according to Boston25. The radio station ran commercials before bringing on another host.

Stomach flu.

We wish Howie the best.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Debt Default

For John, BLUF:  This historic information notwithstanding, a default on our debt would be a bad idea, causing problems in the financial realm and in the international (informational) realm.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The US has never defaulted on its debt — except the four times it did

From The Hill, by Opinion Contributor Alex J Pollock, 10/07/21 12:01 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

Every time the U.S. government’s debt gets close to the debt ceiling, and people start worrying about a possible default, the Treasury Department, under either party, says the same thing: “The U.S. government has never defaulted on its debt!” Every time, this claim is false.

Now Treasury Secretary Yellen has joined the unfailing chorus, writing that “The U.S. has always paid its bills on time” and “The U.S. has never defaulted. Not once,” and telling the Senate Banking Committee that if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, “America would default for the first time in history.”

This is all simply wrong. If the United States government did default now, it would be the fifth time, not the first. There have been four explicit defaults on its debt before. These were:

1. The default on the U.S. government’s demand notes in early 1862, caused by the Treasury’s financial difficulties trying to pay for the Civil War.
2. The overt default by the U.S. government on its gold bonds in 1933.
3. The U.S. government default in 1968 by refusing to honor its explicit promise to redeem its silver certificate paper dollars for silver dollars.
4. The 1971 breaking of the U.S. government’s commitment to redeem dollars held by foreign governments for gold under the Bretton Woods Agreement.

This is pretty straight forward, although the "types" of defaults are different to some degree.  However, a default is a default, a broken promise.

If you thought the dateline was odd, I agree.  My assumption is that this is an update of an older article, not properly reviewed by the editors.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Lysenkoism—and the concern for merit in science and engineering

For John, BLUF:  Lysenkoism is "any deliberate distortion of scientific facts or theories for purposes that are deemed politically or socially desirable."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Researchers Fight Back Against ‘Ideological Capture’ of Modern Science

Here is the sub-headline:

Jerry A. Coyne and Anna Krylov argue that narrative-based ideology now dominates research in the U.S. more pervasively than it did at the Soviet Union’s height.

From Legal Insurrection, by Blogger Leslie Eastman, 30 April 2023 at 02:00pm.

Here is the lede plus two:

For over eight months, I have been chronicling the “ideological capture” of our scientific institutions, which has led to the reduction or elimination of funding to scientists whose research challenged “settled science”; to the deplatforming scientists, engineers, and technical professionals who go against the narrative; and to the denial of tenure, promotions, or hiring because research doesn’t meet the currently approved world view.

. . .

Scientists are now adding the weight of their experience and observations to the fight against this trend.  The Wall Street Journal recently published a truly insightful opinion piece by Dr. Jerry A. Coyne (professor emeritus of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago) and Dr. Anna Krylov (professor of chemistry at the University of Southern California).

In their article, entitled “The ‘Hurtful’ Idea of Scientific Merit,” Coyne and Krylov argue that narrative-based ideology now dominates research in the U.S. more pervasively than it did at the Soviet Union’s height.

My Middle Brother, who had a very successful career in high tech acquisition for the Department of Defense, accuses me of, by pushing merit, excluding members of the accepted minority groups,  I am not for excluding anyone.  If you are the best qualified, the most innovative, you should be the hire.  If being hired into a supervisory role, you should include in your tasks, fostering meritocracy and helping all people improve their game, their merit, regardless of who they are.

So, is this perceived flight from merit because women in Academic STEM have an advantage over men in hiring decisions, as researchers have found?  Or is it because of the domination of academia by Progressives?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Tucker Carlson and the GOP

For John, BLUF:  What is Tucker Carlson's relationship to the Republican Party and what does it mean?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Tucker Carlson and the Right

Here is the sub-headline:

The big question for the G.O.P. during the Biden era is whether the legacy of Carlson’s culture wars adds up to a viable platform for a major political party.

From The New Yorker, by Benjamin Wallace-Wells, 30 April 2023.

Here is the lede plus two:

When Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News last week—so suddenly that he reportedly learned about it only ten minutes before the world did—the most acute notes of regret came from young conservative intellectuals who had seen his nightly hour of programming as an interesting, and perhaps essential, experiment in what right-wing populism could be.  “The Tucker Realignment,” Ross Douthat called that experiment, in the Times, adding that young conservatives “increasingly start out where Carlson ended up—in a posture of reflexive distrust, where if an important American institution takes a position, the place to be is probably on the other side.”  Part of what was appealing about Carlson’s point of view to thinkers on the right was that, in his curiosity about fringe ideas and his occasional highlighting of antiwar (Ukraine) and anti-corporate (Silicon Valley) themes, he was testing out a form of conservative populism that did not hinge on Donald Trump personally.  Michael Brendan Dougherty, of National Review Online, wrote, “Since January 2016, Tucker Carlson has consistently and relentlessly advanced one thesis about American politics:  ‘This isn’t about Donald Trump, but our corrupt liberal elite.’ ”

Ever since Trump lost first the political initiative, in the twists of a COVID crisis that he could never get ahead of, and then the Presidency, to Joe Biden, Carlson’s programs have been where the right’s future was incubated.  They could be racist (stoking fears about the “great replacement”), bizarre (proposing that men tan their testicles as a solution for apparently declining levels of testosterone), and fixated on liberal power in a way that could be hard for an unindoctrinated viewer to follow.  But Carlson was smart enough to identify ideas that could travel.

Both the movement against the teaching of critical race theory and the right-wing interest in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary blossomed on Carlson’s show.  J. D. Vance rode regular appearances on it to a seat in the U.S. Senate.  After Senator Ted Cruz called the January 6th insurrection a “violent terrorist attack,” Carlson forced him to walk back that comment.  Carlson grilled Governor Greg Abbott, of Texas, about why he hadn’t called up more National Guard soldiers to the border, and Abbott did so.  The host also suggested that, if people who live in places like Martha’s Vineyard were so keen on diversity, someone should send undocumented immigrants there.  Not long afterward, Governor Ron DeSantis, of Florida, took him up on it.

This is an interesting article on Talk Show Host Tucker Carlson, recently dethroned by Fox News' Rupert Murdock.  I think the article does a fairly good job of covering what is happening.  That said, there are some sorces who say Mr Carlson wasn't fired, but merely taken off the air.  I do think the author uses short-hand terms for Republican positions, which, in turn, obscure more nuanced Republican positions.  For example, "teaching about race and gender in school", which asks for younger children to not be indoctrinated, rather than bans all such teaching in K-12.

The last sentence of the article is "There is Trumpism with Trump, and there is Trumpism without him."  I agree with the sentence, but I think the author misses the point.  It isn't about Donald J Trump.  It is about millions of voters who think the Progressive elites♠ are out to transform the nation, and in the procress restrict freedoms those voters think are their's.  When President Trump says "In reality they're not after me.  They are after you.  I'm just in the way." he is confirming what they believe.  What the author calls "Trumpism" has been abroad in the land for some time, Ms Lois Lerner notwithstanding.

If the Democrats and the Media manage to drive Mr Trump off the campaign trail, the Republican Voters will go looking for someone who understands their needs.  The question is, is that person on the campaign trail or willing to throw their hat in the ring.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Many use the term "Liberal Elites", but that slimes the Liberal values that made this nation and other Anglaphone nations great.  Liberal values focused around individual freedom and univeral participation.  Progressiveism has been a tool for restricting freedoms.