Monday, April 29, 2024

Pleasantly Surprising Vote


For John, BLUFAmidst all the turmoil amongst the Ivy League schools, it turns out the students at Columbia elected an israeli Jew as Student Body President.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

The election comes as the Columbia campus experiences an overwhelming wave of anti-Israel protests and student encampments.

From The Jerusalam Post, by The Staff, 28 April 2024 06:47, Updated: 28 April 2024 08:45.

Here is the lede plus two:

Columbia University has elected Israeli student Maya Platek as Columbia student government president for the 2024-2025 school year, the organization Students Supporting Israel (SSI) announced Friday.

The election of an Israeli student for the role comes as the Columbia campus experiences an overwhelming wave of anti-Israel protests and encampments.

Platek has been determined to speak up for Jewish students on campus as a member of SSI, an organization that, according to its website, aims to allow for a pro-Israel voice on college campuses.

Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds commented;  'SECRET BALLOTS ALLOW THE SILENT MAJORITY TO SPEAK".

I mentioned this to someone and used the term Australian Ballot.  They drew a blank.  However, Wikipedia recognized this term for the Secret Ballot  While the Secret ballot is as old as ancient Greece, in the United States it didn't start until after the Presidential Election of 1884 (Democrat Governor Grover Cleveland of New York vs Republican James G. Blaine of Maine), with Kentucky being the last state to adopt it, in 1891.

Per Wikipedia the four components of an "Australian ballot" were:

  1. an official ballot being printed at public expense,
  2. on which the names of the nominated candidates of all parties and all proposals appear,
  3. being distributed only at the polling place and
  4. being marked in secret.
There are those of us who are dubious as to if a Secret Ballot can be sustained in an era of no excuse mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

  Wikipedia characterized the election as being "set apart by unpleasant mudslinging and shameful personal allegations that eclipsed substantive issues, such as civil administration change."

Flapping in the Breeze


For John, BLUFDo you ever feel your elected officials will sell you out if they find what seems like a larger patch of voters?  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

If you don’t like a politician’s principles, there’s a good chance he has others.

From The Wall Street Journal, by Columnist Andy Kessler, 28 April 2024 at 11:51 am ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

Today’s politicians are steeped in Marxism.  Not Karl, but Groucho, who is supposed to have said:  “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them . . . well, I have others.”

On Jan. 22, 2021, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said of Donald Trump’s second impeachment:  “Make no mistake, a trial will be held in the United States Senate and there will be a vote whether to convict the president.”  Fast forward to a week ago, when articles of impeachment were delivered to the Senate against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.  Mr. Schumer said:  “Impeachment Article 1 does not allege conduct that rises to the level of high crime or misdemeanor . . . and is therefore unconstitutional.”  No trial.  No vote.

This tossing of principles can be found everywhere.  In 2020 President Trump tried to ban social-media app TikTok over national-security concerns.  Now Mr. Trump is against a ban, writing last month on Truth Social:  “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business.  I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better.”

In August 2020, Joe Biden told ABC’s David Muir, referring to Covid:  “I would shut it down.  I would listen to the scientists.”  By October 2020, Mr. Biden insisted, “I’m not going to shut down the country, I’m going to shut down the virus.”  Lockdowns continued.

Science!  Sadly, some scientists have prancing principles.  Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in March 2020, “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.”  In October 2020, when CNBC’s Shepard Smith asked if we need a national mask mandate, Dr. Fauci quickly answered, “Yes, we do.”  The Washington Post and BuzzFeed, via a Freedom of Information Act request, found this February 2020 Dr. Fauci email:  “The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material.”  In January 2023, the respected Cochrane Review agreed:  “Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference.”

And on it goes.

I don't mind politicians "growing" in their understanding and ethics.  I dislike their way of being a windsocket and going with the breeze.

Hat tip to a Friend in Texas.

Regards  —  Cliff

Sunday, April 28, 2024

A National Pubic Radio Network


For John, BLUFSgt Mom pretty well covers the waterfront concerning National Public Radio.  It is off the rails.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Chicago Boyz, by Sgt. Mom, 18 April 2024.

Here is the lede plus two:

… It turned out that there was one genuine, for real, professional old-line journalist still working at National Public Radio.  Was being the operative word, as business reporter Uri Berliner quit, after spectacularly blowing up any lingering pretense of the publicly financed institution being an impartial and unbiased news-gathering organization, reporting on news without fear, favor or partisanship.  Frankly, anyone claiming to be the teeniest bit rightish of center and believes that load of codswallop is likely too innocent to be let out in public without a dedicated keeper.  They probably believe every word in the NY Times, as well – although as Agent K of Men in Black observed – that publication stumbles into the truth on rare occasions.

Uri Berliner’s final report may yet blow apart NPR federal funding, both that which is direct, and that which is paid to them by local affiliates for the rights to air their various news, information and entertainment features.  The new CEO for NPR, one Katherine Maher, appears to be a singularly unappealing progressive apparatchik, a neurotic child of ruling-class privilege without a single shred of a background or experience in journalism … but all the right progressive opinions.  (I swear, I’d be a better fit for that job based on a DINFOS shake-n-bake course for print and broadcast journalism, followed by twenty years as a military public affairs specialist!)  I’d also swear that Katherine Maher was another generated parody like Titania McGrath, but alas – she’s all too horribly real.

I do wonder if this might be the final straw that breaks NPR.  For all their many awards, organizational self-regard, and incestuously close connections to the Washington power structure, they have also been hemorrhaging ordinary listeners in Flyoverlandia for years now.  I’m one of those once-listeners myself.  Heck, I even worked for years at the local affiliate here in San Antonio on a part-time – on the classical music side, though.  Every time I mentioned how I came to quit listening to NPR – a fair number of commenters chimed in with similar tales of disenchantment and outright disgust.  NPR used to make at least a pretense at being even-handed, the presence of that lugubrious old talking prune, Daniel Schorr notwithstanding – or Cokie Roberts, the daughter of two (count ’em!) longtime career Democrat Party politicians, Lindy and Hale Boggs.  NPR did more than the immediate sensational bleeding and leading coverage of news, and extended features … and then … and then, they seemed to have less and less to say to anyone who wasn’t a bicoastal progressive.  For me, the point came sometime between 9-11 then the election of Obama; definitely by the time of the rise of the Tea Party.  NPR looked at the Tea Party with the horrified interest of someone discovering a dead worm in their expensive mushroom vol-au-vent appetizer, before thumbing through their golden Rolodex of experts and demanding an explanation … instead of, you know – calling up any of the local Tea Party organizations and asking them.

Yes, I know.  Venturing into the hinterland and speaking to those bitter clingers would be asking to much.  Or hiring someone like Reporter Salena Zito.

I think Mr Uri Berliner was trying to save NPR.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

College Protests Run Amok


For John, BLUFI am probably slow, but when in college I didn't have time to take off for protests.  I needed to be cracking the books, as we used to say.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

“Academia, particularly at the level of Columbia and the Ivy League, is completely broken. I don’t think it can be repaired internally. They have created over 20 to 30 years a unified monoculture which is hostile to western values, which is hostile to capitalism, and which exploits and singles out Israel as the object of their ire as a mobilizing tactic…. People need to understand that there is no internal opposition left.”

From Legal Insurrection, by Professor William A. Jacobson, Tuesday, 23 April 2024 at 08:30pm.

Here is the lede plus three:

There is a plus-side to the vile anti-Israel and antisemitic encampments at Columbia and several other universities – the anti-American side of the movement is on full display.  As I’ve been saying for years, the racialized and radicalized campuses are a threat to our nation, now they have shown their hand for all to see.

When they burn American flags, and when they chant for the destruction of the U.S., they are showing us who they really are.

It’s going to get worse.

After spending months screaming for an Intifada (the suicide bombing campaign against Israel), don’t be surprised when some of them try to fulfill their sick fantasies.

I know a former Professor from Columbia and have had numberous conversations with him about various issues in the Middle East (his area of expertise).  I have never thought of him as radical or anti-semetic.  I learned, and at the same time I felt my views were respected.  But, he retired a decade ago.  There are, or at least, have been, intelligent, thinking adults in academia.  But, they seem absent today, and that is bad for our Republic.

The current state of the Ivy League and other elite schools makes me think the smart, informed, parent of a high school senior would consider two years at a community college and then a state university.  Or a known non-radical school, such as Franciscan University of Steubenville.

There is also the view of opinionnater Stephen Kruiser, "Let the Protesters Stay Until Academia Burns to the Ground."  As Professor Glenn Reynolds says from time to time, "what can't go on won't."

I defend the right of the college campus protesters to protest.  I do not condone their intimidating fellow college students, such that those students do not feel safe going to class.  I defend the right of the college campus protesters to be ignorant slobs.  I don't have to accept their uninformed views.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Supporters of Hamas


For John, BLUFAs an American I am saddened by masses of college students exercising their First Amendment rights in support of Hamas, a terrorist organization.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From BabylonBee, 23 April 2024.

Here is the lede plus two:

NEW YORK, NY — As pro-Palestine groups continued to gather on campus following the establishment of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, Columbia University protestors clarified that they only want "Death to America" after America is done paying their student loans for them.

"Death to America… in like, 3 or 4 years when I graduate!" shouted one student protestor. "America truly is the ‘Great Satan' that ravages and oppresses other countries and deserves to be wiped off the face of the earth…as soon as the American taxpayers finish paying off our tuition loans!

"But as soon as that's done, then, yeah, totally, death to America!"

Over the top?  Maybe.  But, it is The Bee.

On the other hand, these student protestors are both ignorant and over the top.  They are an embarrassment to freedom loving people.  Further they seem oblivious to the attitudes of Hamas and like groups toward women and those who identify as LGBQT+.  Where are they getting their education on various societies around the world?

Finally, these demonstrators seem oblivious to the fail of those living in what is now Israel, Jews, Palestinians and Beduins alike.  Should they just die?  Should they all be "transported far beyond the northern sea!"  Likely, if there is not another Holocost, those people would end up in America.  While I would be sad to see the demise of Israel, I would be happy to welcome those 9.9 million new Citizens to our melting pot.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who is Afraid of Bobby?


For John, BLUFWhile Third Party Candidates don't win, they do influence the outcome, so can not be ignored.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

Even Donald Trump acknowledged Monday that the independent candidate “probably hurts both” Biden and him.

From Politico, by Reporters Lisa Kashinsky, Brittany Gibson, Jessica Piper and Steven Shepard, 22 April 2024, 10:02 PM EDT.

Here is the lede plus one:

Republicans are waking up to the reality that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could sink their standard-bearer just as easily as he could hurt President Joe Biden, after a pair of new polls showed the presence of third-party candidates on the ballot might not necessarily benefit former President Donald Trump.

Even Trump is acknowledging his potential problem.

“They say he hurts Biden. I’m not sure that that’s true, and I think he probably hurts [us] both,” Trump said of Kennedy in a radio interview Monday night. “But he might hurt Biden a little bit more, you don’t know.”

so true.&hbsp; Caandidate robert Kennedy has been dismissed by his family and by the Democrstic Nationsal committee, but he is still there.

Yes, he hurts them both, but when some crackpot finally takes a shot at him it will hurt President Biden more, since his Secretary of Homeland Security won’t provide Secret Service protection to Mr Kennedy.  Are there no thinkers down there in the Democratic Party Swamp.  Has no one asked the question of how bad it would look for two Robert Kennedys to be assassinated on the campaign trail?  Father and Son?  What are they thinking, or are they like Rep. Bennie Thompson, hoping for the opposition to die at the hand of an assassin, saving President Biden time and trouble?

I would think our Massachusetts junior Senator, Ed Markey, and our local US Representative, Lori Trahan, have a clue.  Don't you think they could pass the word that there is a clue bag out there?

Hat tip to my Brother Lance.

Regards  —  Cliff

Monday, April 22, 2024

Divide and Conquer


For John, BLUFThere are uniters and dividers.  Don't be a divider.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The New York Post, by Reporter Chris Nesi, 21 April 2024, 6:34 p.m. ET.

Here is the lede plus seven:

This is a ruff take!

City-dwelling dog owners are marking their “colonial” territory with pooches who are “gentrifying” neighborhoods, critics say in a bizarre online debate.

Sparking the controversy was a story in The Cut that delves into the growing hostility between dog owners and the dog-free in New York.

The article quotes Mia, of Prospects Lefferts Gardens, the proud owner of two terriers, who noticed a growing anti-dog sentiment brewing on her community Facebook group.

One post about picking up dog poop eventually spiraled into bonkers accusations that the pooches of PGL were “gentrifying the neighborhood.”

Mia, a New York-born Latina, told the outlet upon reading this she wondered “Are they saying that only white people have dogs?”

Another woman with an off-leash dog was apparently confronted in Prospect Park by someone filming her with her cellphone camera.

“She was asking me why I thought I was special, why my dog didn’t need to be leashed. Was it because of my white privilege?

First, isn't it the job of the Editor to spare us from bad puns?  Perhaps The Post cut one too many editors during its recently announced restructuring.

As to the issue of the article, we are seeing our fellow Americans falling into the "settler colonial" terminology of serious Marxists.  A pet dog is about companionship, not a marking of territory.  The fact that we would have so little respect for our fellow Citizens by accusing them of using a pet dog to dominate a neighborhood suggests we are not getting out and socialiizing enough.  Someone with a pet should be an opportunity to strike up a conversation,  "What a nice dog you have.  What is his name?"  Maybe even pet the pooch.

Marxism seems to be about pitting one group against another.  It can get ugly.  Ask the kulaks, if you can find one.  And not just Soviet Marxists.  Look at "between the wars Germany," where the Jews, and Romi, were singled out, persecuted and killed.  It doesn't end with the extermination of one unfavored group.  New ones are selected.  Ask Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Friday, April 19, 2024

We can Handle the Truth, and Multiple Versions Thereof


For John, BLUFAs people become more and more protective of their own truth, including quashing other views, we become less and less free citizens, exercising our rights thereof.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Old Gray Lady, by Opinion Columnist David Brooks, April 18, 2024.

Here is the lede plus one:

Hilary Cass is the kind of hero the world needs today.  She has entered one of the most toxic debates in our culture: how the medical community should respond to the growing numbers of young people who seek gender transition through medical treatments, including puberty blockers and hormone therapies.  This month, after more than three years of research, Cass, a pediatrician, produced a report, commissioned by the National Health Service in England, that is remarkable for its empathy for people on all sides of this issue, for its humility in the face of complex social trends we don’t understand and for its intellectual integrity as we try to figure out which treatments actually work to serve those patients who are in distress.  With incredible courage, she shows that careful scholarship can cut through debates that have been marked by vituperation and intimidation and possibly reset them on more rational grounds.

Cass, a past president of Britain’s Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, is clear about the mission of her report:  “This review is not about defining what it means to be trans, nor is it about undermining the validity of trans identities, challenging the right of people to express themselves or rolling back on people’s rights to health care.  It is about what the health care approach should be, and how best to help the growing number of children and young people who are looking for support from the N.H.S. in relation to their gender identity.”

This issue begins with a mystery.  For reasons that are not clear, the number of adolescents who have sought to medically change their sex has been skyrocketing in recent years, though the overall number remains very small.  For reasons that are also not clear, adolescents who were assigned female at birth are driving this trend, whereas before the late 2000s, it was mostly adolescents who were assigned male at birth who sought these treatments.

Doctors and researchers have proposed various theories to try to explain these trends.  One is that greater social acceptance of trans people has enabled people to seek these therapies.  Another is that teenagers are being influenced by the popularity of searching and experimenting around identity.  A third is that the rise of teen mental health issues may be contributing to gender dysphoria.  In her report, Cass is skeptical of broad generalizations in the absence of clear evidence; these are individual children and adolescents who take their own routes to who they are.

Some activists and medical practitioners on the left have come to see the surge in requests for medical transitioning as a piece of the new civil rights issue of our time — offering recognition to people of all gender identities.  Transition through medical interventions was embraced by providers in the United States and Europe after a pair of small Dutch studies showed that such treatment improved patients’ well-being.  But a 2022 Reuters investigation found that some American clinics were quite aggressive with treatment:  None of the 18 U.S. clinics that Reuters looked at performed long assessments on their patients, and some prescribed puberty blockers on the first visit.

Unfortunately, some researchers who questioned the Dutch approach were viciously attacked.  This year, Sallie Baxendale, a professor of clinical neuropsychology at the University College London, published a review of studies looking at the impact of puberty blockers on brain development and concluded that “critical questions” about the therapy remain unanswered.  She was immediately attacked.  She recently told The Guardian, “I’ve been accused of being an anti-trans activist, and that now comes up on Google and is never going to go away.”

I see this article as having two main issues.

One issue is transgenderism.  I think Dr Cass is right to suggest go slow for gender dysphoria for young people.  If you are 23 or older I figure you are mature enough to make your own choices.  Before then it is child abuse.  (I would have said 21, but my co-host this morning said the age was 25 for full brain development.  She is a teacher of special needs children and a member of our School Committee.)

But, at another level transgenderism is abusive of those who are not.  Some day in the future this might not be true, but today it just throws more of a burden on women who are cis-women.  To sustain our population they, today, must produce 2.1 children.  In this generation my Middle Brother and Wife have one, my Youngest Brother and Wife three and Martha and myself three.  Seven.  Divided by 3 is 2.33.  We produced a surplus.  For my kids, three, two and four.  Nine.  Divided by three is 3.0.  A surplus.  But, if my Daughter had been transgender, then two and four, for six, divided by thee and you get 2.0.  Someone else has to make up that deficiency. Do the work others won't (can’t).  Which is why we need immigration, since they can do the work female US Citizens can’t or won’t.  Don’t blame me.  Blame nature and nature’s God.

As for the point, about scientific research, I think that we are in a period where it is not respected.  I liked the mention of British philosopher and mathematician William Kingdon Clifford.  Columnist Brooks throws shade at Republicans in this arena, but I think that is too narrow a view.  Look at COVID-19.  Any research that flowed differently from the views of Dr Anthony Fauci or Dr Birx was suppressed.  Look at either the Great Barrington Declaration or Ivermectin.  Or Mr Berliner, formerly of NPR.  We need more dialogue, more people challenging the conventional wisdom.  This morning I had a Democratic State Rep, at the end of a televised interview, asked me, given my views, why I am a Republican.  I took that as a genuine complement.  A diversity of views and an openness to discuss them is important to our progress as a society.

Hat tip to my Middle Brother.

Regards  —  Cliff

Thursday, April 18, 2024

NPR and Truth


For John, BLUFNPR is scamming the average taxpayer.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The Washington Examiner, by Reporter Conn Carroll, 16 April 2024 10:50 am.

Here is the lede plus four:

Sometimes, a person enters the public spotlight and is such an embodiment of an established stereotype that it seems impossible for him or her to be a real person. If Tom Wolfe wanted to capture the essence of arrogant, alienated progressivism, he would reject NPR’s new CEO, Katherine Maher, as too unbelievably on point.

The daughter of wealthy parents whose wedding was announced in the New York Times, Maher grew up in a wealthy white suburb of New York City before studying at the American University in Cairo, the Institut français du Proche-Orient in Syria, and finally New York University.

She then got internships with the Council on Foreign Relations and Eurasia Group in London and Germany before landing a job in New York City at UNICEF. She had stops with the National Democratic Institute and the World Bank, among other global nonprofit groups, before rising to become the CEO of Wikimedia in 2019.

It would be impossible to create a resume of a person more disconnected from Americans and more intertwined with the wealthy, urban, globalist elite who run the largest banks, media companies, and nonprofit groups in the United States. In other words, Maher has the perfect resume to run NPR.

And her tweets prove she is the perfect person for the job.

My favorite comment, via "X", of new NPR CEO, Katherine Maher, is (via InstsPundit):
Our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that’s getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done.
It appears Ms Maher did not get enouogh Superman when she was young.  The concept of "Truth, Justice and the American Way".

Without truth there can be no justice.  Without truth we are all just lying to ourselves and each other.  Ms Maher's line makes me think of another historic character, Pontius Pilate, who asks, "What is truth"?.

Mr Tom Knigjhton, at Tilting at windmills, wrote:

The problem is that, among other things, NPR is expected to be an unbiased news source. Most mainstream media outlets pretend to be, but NPR gets taxpayer money, which means it’s paid by all of us, be we liberal, conservative, libertarian, or some other flavor of ideology.

But as we now know, not only is their reporting not unbiased but there’s absolutely no interest in ideological diversity.

And there is the rub.  Neither CEO Maher, nor the News Room are interested in the truth or in the nuances that make news interesting.  So, they are scamming us.

Is this all Mr Trump's fault?  Would things have been different if, in 2016, the Republican Convdention had nominated Senator Cruz or Senator Rubio?  How about if they had given us Governor Sarah Palin?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff
  Found in John's Gospel.

Looking Beyond Donald Trump


For John, BLUFIt isn't DJT, it is his voters, who were here before the Escalator Descent and will be here after the flag is folded over his casket. .  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Ann Althouse Blog, by Professor ann Althouse.

Here is the lede plus three: "No one’s been harder on Trump than me. But I get it, and I’m bored with it. And there’s a different way to do this...."

"Not to defend Trump, but to defend the people who still vote for him. Because what they see on the other side, to them, is even more dangerous. Because it’s closer to home: 'My kid is coming home from school and he thinks he’s a racist? He’s five, what have you been telling him? My son thinks maybe he’s not a boy.' And maybe that’s true, that happens. Those kind of things are what they say. 'That’s why I’m voting for Trump.'"

Said Bill Maher, criticizing the mainstream commentators who endlessly express negativity toward Trump, quoted in "Bill Maher Defends Trump Voters in Contentious Katie Couric Sit-Down" (Daily Beast)(video at the link).

Maher is right. The media pundits should not be aiming disrespect and contempt at the millions of Americans who support Trump. They are voters, and they are human beings. The self-important experts ought at least to pretend to care about understanding and reaching them.

Enigma's Comment:

The Woke Democrat era ends not because of Trump, but because the do-or-die zealots force a critical mass of principled/center/sane Democrats out of the Party. Tulsi Gabbard, Joe Rogan, Bari Weiss, Matt Taibbi, Elon Musk, every Jew that doesn't want to be killed, Mr. "I am a Berliner" at NPR, and now the turtle-slow (but everyone saw it coming) Maher.
Wa St Blogger's Comment:
The self-important experts ought at least to pretend to care about understanding and reaching them.

No. What a stupid thing to say. That would be unconscionable. These people are evil and racist and Nazis. No option should be dismissed that would rid ourselves of these Neanderthals that infest our country. Thank God Biden is jailing them and importing better citizens. Hopefully we can create a permanent majority of enlightened people who are immune to the misinformation spewed by these reprehensible excuses for human beings.

Even my Progressive Brother understands that one needs to look beyond President Trump and view the people who support him, from the Tea Party on.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Monday, April 8, 2024

He's Back


For John, BLUFReporter Raymond Arroyo has been absent from my television screen for a while now, but tonight he was back.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From Hot Air, by Columnist Jazz Shaw, 27 March 2024, 5:00 PM.

Here is the lede plus three:

Anyone who watches Fox News on a semi-regular basis is probably familiar with Raymond Arroyo. He's been a Fox contributor since 2017 but particularly in the recent past he was most often seen working alongside Laura Ingraham on The Ingraham Angle. He was typically called on for some comic relief and he worked elements of humor into most of his features. But you may have noticed in recent weeks that he's been nowhere to be seen and the regular segments that he did with Ingraham are no longer showing up. As The Daily Beast put it, he seems to have simply vanished. But why? As it turns out, one of his jokes reportedly went several steps too far and it had to do with Donald Trump, Black voters, and... sneakers.
Fox News pundit Raymond Arroyo has vanished from the network’s airwaves since sparking backlash last month by claiming Black voters would support Donald Trump for president because “they love sneakers.”

A paid on-air contributor with the conservative cable giant since 2017, Arroyo is best known to Fox News viewers for his regular appearances on Laura Ingraham’s nightly program. In addition to his “Seen and Unseen” and “Friday Follies” segments, he has also served as a substitute host of The Ingraham Angle.

His near-daily presence on Ingraham’s program, however, suddenly came to a halt in late February after his on-air claim that Trump’s new sneakers would win him Black votes went viral in the worst way across social media and prompted widespread rebuke.

i was pleased to see Reporter Raymond Arroyo back on the Ingram Angle.  I like his humerous take on the news of the day.

By the way, those Gold Sneakers from Candidate Donald Trump go for $399.  Out of my price range, although the inflation under President Joseph Biden could make them in range if he is elected again.

My opinioin is that Fox News over-reacted.

Hat tip to my Wife for the original article.

Regards  —  Cliff

Squatter


For John, BLUFHow long will Citizens endure their homes being seized by illegal immigrants as squatters?  Nothing to see here; just move along.




From The New York Post, by Reporter Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, 7 April 2024, 3:17 p.m. ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

The Big Apple is seeing a troublesome trend of unwelcome squatters illegally bedding down in private homes and apartments in the five boroughs — and it’s gotten much harder to kick them out.

A backlog of housing court cases and changes in the law in recent years have made it a bigger and longer-lasting headache for landlords to boot unwelcome tenants, legal experts tell The Post.

“This is happening far more now than in the past,” real estate attorney Josh Price said. “Squatters have become far more sophisticated than before. They set up elaborate schemes, fake documents and investigate the homes before breaking in.”

Two changes in city law in 2019 now dictate that landlords can’t just boot a squatter without a “special proceeding,” and have to file a lawsuit to get them out.

Manhattan real estate lawyer Alan Goldberg said he’s seen a 10-to-20% bump in squatter cases over the past two years, attributing it to the migrant crisis, post-pandemic homelessness — and media coverage.

How long can this go on before we have a large number of homeless American Citizens, because their homes have been taken over by illegal immigrants squatting in their home.

Blogger Sarah Hoyt says:

The left has forgotten what happens when people lose faith in the courts and law. I’m very afraid a great lesson is coming.
. Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Monday, April 1, 2024

Who Is Being Taxed


For John, BLUFWe need to understand our tax system, to ensure our legislators are playing fair with all of us, rich and poor.  Nothing to see here; just move along.




Here is the sub-headline:

ITEP's latest study exposes how the 2017 tax law has allowed major U.S. corporations to drastically reduce their tax bills, highlighting the need for urgent reform in corporate taxation.

From Nation of Change, by Reporter Ruth Milka, 1 March 2024.

Here is the lede plus one:

A recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has unveiled that numerous large, profitable U.S. companies have substantially reduced their federal tax bills, leveraging the provisions of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law.  This legislation, which cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, has been under scrutiny for enabling lucrative loopholes that major corporations have exploited.

The 2017 Tax Law: A Catalyst for Corporate Tax Avoidance

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, hailed by its proponents for spurring economic growth, has faced criticism for diminishing corporate contributions to public investments.  “When President [Donald] Trump and congressional Republicans slashed the statutory corporate income tax rate… their goal was to allow corporations to contribute less to the public investments and the society that makes their profits possible,” the ITEP report elucidates.

The study focused on 342 profitable companies over the first five years since the law’s enactment, revealing that 23 of these companies paid no federal taxes during this period. Notably, Kinder Morgan, NRG Energy, and T-Mobile were among those with a 0% or negative effective tax rate. The analysis further disclosed that nearly a quarter of the examined companies, including giants like Netflix, Nike, and Citigroup, paid taxes at single-digit rates or less.

I know I should be upset by corporatoins not paying their fair share.  The thing is, when they pay their tax it is with my money.  The corporation doesn't create money out of nothing.  They create their wealth by selling things or services.  Who pays for those products or services?  You and I pay, and the corporate tacks on a little extra for profit.  Some of that is then raked off in Government Taxes.

It would seem to me that the appropriate place to tax is in terms of the dividends of those who have invested in individual corporations  For them it is income.

In the end, it is the consumer who is underwriting any taxes being paid by corporations.  It is coming out of your pocket.

That said, perhaps we cannot disentangle taxes from the concept that corporations are people, in term of free speech.

Regards  —  Cliff
  What is a fair share?  I hear the term, but I don't find definitions.  Do youhave a definition you could share