Picking Our Friends

For John, BLUF:  I was assured, after the 2021 Inauguration, that The Adults Are Back in Charge.  The meme now reminds me of the old quip, "Amateurs built the Arc, Professionals built the Titanic."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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“Humiliated” Dems Want Retribution Vs. Saudi Arabia

From Victory Girls Blog, by Ms Toni Williams, 16 October 2022.

Here is the lede plus twoo:

What on Earth did they think was going to happen?  Democrats say that Joe Biden has been humiliated by Saudi Arabia and that Biden needs to get retribution against the Kingdom.  For decades, the Democrats have been lying to everyone and giving each other participation trophies.  They have not faced the logical consequences of their actions and are shocked, shocked that other countries act in their own enlightened self-interest.  My prediction:  If an adult doesn’t step in, the Democrats will make the situation even worse and you and I will be left to pay the tab.  Why is Saudi Arabia humiliating Biden and the Dems?

During the Ovomit Obama Regime, the Saudis were unhappy about the U.S. negotiating with Iran for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).  Trump cancelled the JCPOA and the Saudis were happy.  Jamal Khashoggi was butchered, allegedly, at the behest, allegedly, of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud (MBS) and the Left went batshite crazy, not allegedly.  They demanded consequences.  Biden called MBS and the Kingdom “pariahs” and claimed there would be “consequences”.  That is, until Joe got installed into office and destroyed domestic oil production, then they forgot about Jamal Khashoggi and went gas can in hand to Saudi Arabia.

Because Democrats don’t understand logical consequences and think a photo-op and fist bump cures all, they didn’t expect MBS to hold any grudges.  Baha, haha, haha. The Dems never thought that the Saudis and MBS might feel humiliated.  Nah.  But even worse, yes, the Dems decided to begin negotiating with Iran and revived the JCPOA.  Iran and Saudi Arabia have been close to war many times over the decades.

In foreign policy hurt feelings are of little use.  The questions are, what are the foreign policy goals and who can help us achieve them.  I would think that a stable and modernizing Saudi Arabia would help us aschieve our foreign policy goals in the Middle East.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Hunter Biden's Laptop

For John, BLUF:  I admire Reporter Glenn Greenwald for his integrity.  Here he is talkiing about Mr Hunter Biden's laptop and how it was reported to the American Public.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Glenn Greenwald will never stop talking about this and doesn't care if it's annoying.

From The Althouse Blogspot, by Law Professor Ann Althoouse, 15 October 2022, 6:43 AM.

In a nutshell:

Glenn Greenwald

@ggreenwald

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I'll never stop talking about this and don't care if it's annoying.

This is a huge journalistic scandal:  almost every major news outlet ratified an outright lie to manipulate the 2020 election and - to this day - not one of them, not one, has apologized, explained or retracted.

In a Presidential Debase Candidate Biden cited a letter signed by 51 people connected to US Intelligence, which said that The New york Post story on Mr Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop computer had all the hallmarks of a classic Russian disinformation campaign.  As Former Central Intelligence Agency officer David Priess told Fox News Anchor Brett Baier, the letter didn't ssy it was a Russian disinformation campaign, just that it had the hallmarks.  President Biden claimed, during the debate, that the letter said it was Russian disinformstion.  Today even The New York Times and The Washington Post admit the laptop story is true.  Thus the letter, apparently not crafted carefully enough, was used to confuse the American Voter.  This poor crafting was not corrected after the debate.

Would it have made a difference in the outcome of the election?  Perhaps, but that is water under the bridge.  The thing to try and get right today is reporting that is not biased for one candidte or the other.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Election Deniers

For John, BLUF:  While Democrats (and the Media) decry Republicans with questions about the 2020 Election, it turns out they are inveterate election deniers themselves.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Judge Throws Out Lawsuit by Stacey Abrams’s PAC Over 2018 Georgia Governor’s Election

From The Epoch Times, by Reporter Caden Pearson, 1 October 2022.

Here is the lede plus five:

A federal judge on Friday threw out a lawsuit filed by Stacey Abrams challenging Georgia’s election system after she lost the 2018 gubernatorial race to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

The lawsuit, which sought to change how the state administers elections, was filed around four years ago by Fair Fight Georgia, a political action committee established by Abrams after her election defeat. Earlier this year, the judge pared down the lawsuit by dismissing many of its original complaints.

Abrams alleged “misconduct, fraud or irregularities” in the voting process. She took legal action to stop counties from throwing out some rejected provisional and absentee ballots when updated vote totals affirmed Kemp was the likely winner.

When she eventually conceded on Nov. 16, 2018, Abrams vowed to take legal action to continue fighting the outcome.

“Although Georgia’s election system is not perfect, the challenged practices violate neither the constitution nor the [Voting Rights Amendment],” U.S. District Judge Steven Jones said in his ruling.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was the lead defendant in the case, hailed the ruling.

I don't think I have much more to say.  The facts speak for themselves.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Rep Adam Schiff

For John, BLUF:  Congressman Adam Schiff (D CA) has a huge warchest.  Why?.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Schiff’s House Dowry

Here is the sub-headline:

The hyper ambitious, limelight-loving Trump impeachment star is also one of the most prolific (and parsimonious) fundraisers in Congress, provoking questions about what he’s hoarding so much money for, anyway, if not to spend it.

From Puck, by Reporter Tara Palmeri, 3 October 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

I was texting with a Democratic member of Congress the other day when I casually mentioned a figure that had confounded me:  Adam Schiff, the highly-visible Mueller-era liberal hero who represents the wealthy L.A. adjacent exurbs, had raised $18.6 million dollars this cycle between his campaign committee and leadership PAC.  In fact, I noted, Schiff has $20 million in his war chest.  “Holy F_ _ _, that’s a huge amount” this member responded, wholly gobsmacked, but fully cognizant that Schiff’s financial prowess was his most tantalizing argument to replace Nancy Pelosi if or when she steps down after the midterms.  (I’ll spare you the bellicose, obfuscating pushback from her spokesperson, who denies this without actually denying it.)

Schiff, after all, has always been an epic fundraiser, and he’s developed a Pelosi-esque national network to match.  Schiff’s haul this cycle, in particular, is a powerful point of juxtaposition with the other members of the House vying for leadership in a post-Pelosiverse.  Pelosi, of course, has raised the most of any member, with $34.5 million dollars between her campaign committee and leadership PAC, but even her war chest is smaller than Schiff’s as of the June 30 F.E.C. filing, with $16.5 million cash on hand.  And none of Pelosi’s lieutenants in the leadership lineup have even raised more than $10.5 million this cycle between their campaign committees and leadership PACs.  Indeed, by comparison, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has $3.5 million cash on hand; Whip Jim Clyburn has $3 million; Democratic Caucus chairman (and presumed frontrunner to fill Pelosi’s shoes) Hakeem Jeffries has $3.2 million; Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark has $1.5 million; and vice chair of the Democratic caucus Pete Aguilar has $2.6 million.

Not surprisingly, Schiff’s massive cash pile has led to whispers among members about why he is holding on to so much dough during such a consequential period in the cycle.  After all, members of leadership are expected to spend their war chests to help the conference.  If Schiff wants to be minority leader or hold some other position in leadership, some have wondered, why wouldn’t he be leaning into his fundraising powers to engender support and fealty from the caucus?  As one leadership aide succinctly mused:  “Why does Adam Schiff have $19 million in the bank in the fight of our lives?”

A good question?

Can you imagine Mr Adam Schiff as President?

I think I will remember Congressman Adam Schiff as the person who read into the record a false statement he attributed to President Donald Trump, for which he didn't get much pushback from the legitimate press.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

John Cabot to the Front

For John, BLUF:  Our Senioor Senator, Ms E Warren, would like to change Columbus Day to Indiginous Peoples Dsy.  Why today?  What did Indiginoous People do to spark the uniting of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Anglosphere:  Celebrating Wrong Italian? (Columbus vs. Cabot)

From Free Republic, by James C. Bennet, 12 October 2002.

Here is the lede plus seven:

A few years ago I chanced to be in Buenos Aires on Columbus Day. It is a major holiday there, during which no business is transacted. I spent the day wandering about town enjoying the celebrations. One plaza held a Columbus Day festival in which passersby could enjoy demonstrations and samples of music, dance, crafts and foods of all the various Latin American nations, and of many of the source-nations of Argentina's immigration.

The interesting thing to me was the complete absence of anything representing the United States. This was not a coincidence. Columbus, and the holiday celebrating his landing in the New World, are seen throughout the Spanish-speaking world as having to do primarily with the extension of Spanish-speaking, Catholic civilization to the New World and the creation, through a conflicted encounter, of a new culture. It is, to coin a phrase, the creation of the Hispanosphere that is commemorated.

Traditionally, the role played by the United States in this narrative is not one of a joint participant, but rather an antagonist. In the narrative of Hispanosphere nationalists, Latin America is Shakespeare's Ariel, the graceful and sensitive artistic spirit. The United States, or "Gringolandia" as it is sometimes called, is Caliban, the powerful but ugly monster that dominates tragic Ariel.

Columbus Day in the United States carries an entirely different set of connotations. During the 19th century, Columbus was reinvented by Washington Irving and his successors as a sort of Yankee visionary entrepreneur before his time. His specific roots in time, space, and culture as a Genoese in the service of Spanish monarchs was downplayed; what was celebrated was his seeming prescience and capacity for self-reinvention.

In fact Columbus did have some such characteristics; entrepreneurism is often a leap into the unknown, and he was neither the first nor the last to set out to seek one thing and discover another, nor to venture on the basis of mistaken calculations and assumptions. There was, it is true, a certain Enron-like quality to his mileage calculations.

Subsequently, this useful narrative was seized upon and expanded by Catholic immigrant communities eager to demonstrate that Catholicism was not inconsistent with being American. Italian immigrant groups found Columbus a particularly appealing figure; here was an Italian Catholic already elevated to heroic status by the Americans they sought to join. Columbus Day became established as an American holiday, but for reasons and with symbolism quite different from those for which it is celebrated in Latin America.

Now, of course, Columbus Day is under attack as a holiday in the United States by the forces of political correctness. This is primarily an effect of the Calvinist Puritan roots of American progressivism. Just as Calvinists believed in the centrality of the depravity of man, with the exception of a miniscule contingent of the Elect of God, their secularized descendants believe in the depravity and cursedness of Western civilization, with their own enlightened selves in the role of the Elect.

I like the thread in this article on the influence of Calvinist Puritans.  The idea of a sinful world and a few saved from this perdition.  This does a lot to explain the Woke Community.  The modern day witch trials are now the banning of individual sinners from social media.

The other thing I liked was the bringing up of Joohn Cabot as the true person to celebrate for the founding of English colonies on North American Shores.  I don't recall learning, in elementary school, much about John Cabot, as opposed to Christopher Columbus.  I am the poorer for it.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Comes Next

For John, BLUF:  This is a quick look at the line of succession for President of the United States.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The US Presidential Line of Succesion

The table below list the statatory line of succession should anything happen to the President, or the President and others on the list of succession.  It is like the TV Show Designated Survivor.

SERIAL	Office	Incumbent	Party
1	Vice President	Kamala Harris	Democratic
2	Speaker of the House of Rep	Nancy Pelosi	Democratic
3	President pro tempore of the Senate	Patrick Leahy	Democratic
4	Secretary of State	Antony Blinken	Democratic
5	Secretary of the Treasury	Janet Yellen	Democratic
6	Secretary of Defense	Lloyd Austin	Unknown
7	Attorney General	Merrick Garland	Unknown
8	Secretary of the Interior	Deb Haaland	Democratic
9	Secretary of Agriculture	Tom Vilsack	Democratic
10	Secretary of Commerce	Gina Raimondo	Democratic
11	Secretary of Labor	Marty Walsh	Democratic
12	Secretary of Health and Human Services	Xavier Becerra	Democratic
13	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Marcia Fudge	Democratic
14	Secretary of Transportation	Pete Buttigieg	Democratic
--	Secretary of Energy	Jennifer Granholm	Democratic
15	Secretary of Education	Miguel Cardona	Democratic
16	Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Denis McDonough	Democratic
--	Secretary of Homeland Security	Alejandro Mayorkas	Democratic

Two names have been struck out.  Those two individuals are not native born Americans, and thus are not eligible to be President.

In reviewing the list, which of the first seven do you think are ready to be President?  Who would be better at the job than President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr, and his team? 

We have people expressing concern that President Biden is in ill health.  There are some who talk about use of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to deal with President Biden.  Moving to sucession without thinking about what comes next is poor planning.♠  For example, Senator Leahy is two years older than President Biden.

It is worth while thinking of the top seven in the list above.  Which of them would be a step up from President Biden and his Team.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  For example, before President Nixon was pressured to resign, back in 1974, the system went against Vice President Spiroo Agnew, forcing his resignation, and replacement by the House Minority Leader, Gerald Ford.

Revolution in Iran

For John, BLUF:  After the religious (moral) police in Iran arrested, and killed, a woman for having a lock of hair exposed, there were protest.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"We tell each other on the scene where and when we would gather next time. But mostly you know where people would gather..."

From Althouse Blogspot, by Professor Ann Althouse, October 2, 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

"We tell each other on the scene where and when we would gather next time. But mostly you know where people would gather and you do not need to arrange anything....  We will continue until they kill every single one of us....  They fired teargas directly at us the other night, my eyes were burning, I could not sleep all night, but still I went out the next night, with my tears and pain in my eyes."

Said one woman named Nasheen, quoted in "'Women are in charge.  They are leading':  Iran protests continue despite crackdowns/People, determined to defy violence by security forces and online blackout, are resorting to old-fashioned methods to organise unrest" (The Guardian).

Also, from a woman named Negar:  "Much of the time the men are just watching.  Women organise and do everything.  It’s completely different from previous times.  Women are in charge.  They are leading."

This revolution, because of its makeup, threatens the current government in Iran.  Women just ignoring the religious police creates a difficulty for the government.  The government is not directly threatened.  On the other hand, to react to the protestors makes the government look oppressive, which strips it of legitimacy  This is a tricky time for the Iranian government..

The threat is not just to the government, but it is also a threat to Shia Islam, in that the faithful are rejecting a tenant regarding acceptable drress.  What could be next?

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff