The Joke

For John, BLUF:  .  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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China has fallen into a psycho-political funk

Here is the sub-headline:

Fragile consumer confidence is just one sign of a malaise that is not merely economic

From The Financial Times, by Reporter James Kynge, 11 August 2023.

Here is the lede plus three:

Sly, Soviet-style jokes are enjoying a subtle revival on Chinese social media platforms.  Their art resides in being too obscure for censors to understand yet clear enough for cynics to chuckle at their mockery.

Some are so esoteric that their satire is confirmed only by the censors’ decision to delete them — echoing the cat-and-mouse dynamic that distinguished dissident humour in the former Soviet Union.  One joke this week monitored by the China Digital Times, a US-based site that covers Chinese affairs, belonged to this genre.

It read:

While out and about on vacation, I stubbed my toe on something. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a bronze lamp.  It was smudged, so I picked it up and gave it a good wipe — and out popped a genie!  The genie said it could grant me any wish. ‘Is that so?’ I said.  ‘Well then, could you make you-know-who you-know-what?’  No sooner had the words escaped my lips than the genie rushed over, clamped my mouth shut, and asked:  ‘Are we even allowed to say that?’

The author’s account appears to have been shut down after the joke was deleted.

I hope we are not headed down the path of a humorless social credit society.  That would be the end of open capitalism and the economic growth we need to give everyone a chance to achieve their best.  It likely would be the end of open worship of one's God.

Let us, as a society, accept that some people will be wrong, but the advantage to society of free inquiry requires we accept such people as our brothers and sisiters, even if they reject us.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Voltaire Weeps

For John, BLUF:  Free Speech is on the docket.  The right to hold an unpopular view is being refuted.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Professor Amy Wax—The Disciplinary Committee’s Decision Is Expected By September 5, 2023: What Is At Stake?

From New Reform Club, by Blogger Seth Barrett Tillman, 10 August 2023, 1:51 PM.

Here is the last paragraph:

I do not know Professor Wax.  I cannot and do not speak to the remainder of your “charge sheet.” I do know something about Powell.  On that basis, I state that should Wax be disciplined, in whole or in part for assigning the Powell interview, or for voicing her unpopular opinions in a non-discriminatory fashion, I tremble in regard to what the consequences will be for freedom of speech, thought, and conscience in your university, in the United States, and elsewhere.

Blogger Tillman nails it.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Do The Right Thing

For John, BLUF:  The link to this article was sent to me twice, once by a Conservative Republican and once by a Progressive.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The 6 Kinds of Republican Voters

From The Old Gray Lady, by Mr Nate Cohn, 17 August 2023

Here is the lede plus two:

AFTER EIGHT YEARS of Republican fealty to Donald J. Trump, few would argue that the party is still defined by Ronald Reagan’s famous three-legged stool of the religious right, fiscal conservatives and neoconservative hawks.

But if the Republican Party is no longer in Reagan’s image, it’s not necessarily a populist-conservative MAGA monolith, either.

The last New York Times/Siena College poll found that only 37 percent of Republicans count as part of Mr. Trump’s loyal base.

The poll shows a Republican coalition as follows♠:

• The Moderate Establishment (14%).  Highly educated, affluent, socially moderate or even liberal and often outright Never Trump.
• The Traditional Conservatives (26%).  Old-fashioned economic and social conservatives who oppose abortion and prefer corporate tax cuts to new tariffs.  They don’t love Mr. Trump, but they do support him.
• The Right Wing (26%).  They watch Fox News and Newsmax. They’re “very conservative.” They’re disproportionately evangelical.  They believe America is on the brink of catastrophe. And they love Mr. Trump more than any other group.
• The Blue Collar Populists (12%).  They’re mostly Northern, socially moderate, economic populists who hold deeply conservative views on race and immigration.  Not only do they back Mr. Trump, but he himself probably counted as one a decade ago.
• The Libertarian Conservatives (14%).  These disproportionately Western and Midwestern conservatives value small government.  They’re relatively socially moderate and isolationist, and they’re on the lower end of Trump support compared with other groups.
• The Newcomers (8%).  They don’t look like Republicans.  They’re young, diverse and moderate. But these disaffected voters like Democrats and the “woke” left even less.

Which of the six an I?  And which are yoou?

Don't think about this as Pro-Trump or anti-Trump.  The Grand Old Party has been around since 1854. (First gatherihng in a Ripon, Wisconsin schoolhouse on 20 March 1854)  It was founded by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential expansion of slavery into the western territories.

Picking a political party is picking the future of these United States.

Those who pick the Democratic Party are not bad peoople.  They are our Brothers and Sisters, Cousins and Friends.  It is just that they have picked a party that has, since the 1960s, made choices that have been bad for Middle and Loower Class Americans.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Remember, it is The Old Gray Lady and their use of English words may not be exactly the same as yours.

Let Sleeping Princesses Lie

For John, BLUF:  Ms Zegler did recently accuse Prince Charming of being a stalker.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Prince Immediately Regrets Waking Rachel Zegler With A Kiss After She Starts Ranting About The Patriarchy

From The Babylo Bee, 17 August 2023.

Here is the lede plus one:

FAIRY FOREST — Prince Florian quickly regretted his decision to wake Rachel Zegler from her enchanted sleep as she immediately launched into a 3-hour-long tirade about the patriarchy.

"Yeah, this was a mistake," said Prince Florian as Ms. Zegler continued her diatribe. "I'm starting to see where the Queen was coming from."

The saying “act in haste, repent at leisure” could be applied here.  The Prince obviously didn't think through the consequences of his action, nor the era in which he is living.

The age of love and acting to benefit others seems to be passing before our eyes.  I say "Good Luck" to the newer generations.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Change the Voting Age?

For John, BLUF:  We won't let an 18 year old buy a gun, but we let them vote.  Weird.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Ramaswamy proposes raising voting age to 25, unless people serve in military or pass a test

From ABC News, by Reporter Meg Kinnard, 9:04 PM EDT, 11 May 2023.

Here is the lede plus two:

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday voiced support for changing the overall U.S. voting age to 25, unless younger Americans fulfill at least six months of service in the military or as a first responder — or pass the same citizenship test administered to those seeking to become naturalized citizens.

Ramaswamy’s campaign announced the biotech entrepreneur and “anti-woke” activist’s push for a U.S. Constitutional amendment promoting “civic duty voting,” which he announced in a news release and detailed during a campaign event in Urbandale, Iowa.

Revising the Constitution is no simple task, requiring overwhelming support in Congress and in state legislatures.  Still, Ramaswamy said in his release that the “absence of national pride is a serious threat to the future of our country” and argued his proposal “can create a sense of shared purpose and responsibility amongst young Americans to become educated citizens.”

Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds chimed in, noting he had proposed something similiar in USA Today.

I agree with Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Professor Reynolds.  Observing college canpus life from afar, I am not impressed with the capacity of college students to engage in spirited, yet civil, discussion.  Throw in AntiFa, to furthur erode civil discourse.  And what about those who never went to college.  How many of them are registered to vote and understand the issues?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Special Counsel Appointed

For John, BLUF:  The larger issue here is the future of President Biden and how the Democratic Party nomenclatura will jump.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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AG Merrick Garland appoints a special counsel in Hunter Biden probe

From NBC News, by Reporters Daniel Barnes and Kelly O'Donnell and Monica Alba and Ali Vitali and Dareh Gregorian and Ryan J. Reilly, 11 August 2023.

Here is the lede plus two:

U.S. Attorney David Weiss was appointed special counsel in the ongoing probe of the president's son Hunter Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday.

Weiss will be responsible for the “ongoing investigation" of President Joe Biden's son "as well as for any other matters that arose or may arise from that investigation," the Justice Department said in a statement.  Weiss, who was already overseeing the Hunter Biden probe and is based in Delaware, asked to be appointed special counsel on Tuesday and Garland agreed it was "in the public interest" to do so, the attorney general said.

The move was announced shortly before prosecutors from Weiss's team revealed in a court filing the plea talks over tax and gun charges against the president's son had broken down and the case would likely have to go to trial in California or Washington, D.C.  Later Friday, prosecutors suggested they could bring different charges against Hunter Biden in the new case.

The first issue is that the regulation calls for a Special Counsel to be appointed from outside the Government.  (28 CFR § 600.3 - Qualifications of the Special Counsel)  Clearly, Mr David Weiss is not from outside the Government.  Perhaps we will get a leak from DoJ, explaining the rationale.

For me the second issue is that this complicates President Biden's decision making.  I had been hoping that a plea deal between Mr Hunter Biden and DoJ might create space for President Biden to step down, citing "health concerns".  That space is gone.  Now what?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Greats

For John, BLUF:  Those people out in Hollywood are messing with what we can watch, impacting what we think of ourselves.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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For the Love of Jimmy Stewart, Save Turner Classic Movies!

From Carla Seaquist at Medium, by Ms Carla Seaquist, 11 July 2023.

Here is the lede plus six:

Jimmy Stewart filibustering for cleaner politics.

Bette Davis operating in her reality-based mode.

James Cagney conjuring up, as it were, “sumpin’ out of nuttin.’”

These iconic American actors, symbolizing iconic American traits, are mainstays of a venue fashioned just for them: Turner Classic Movies.  Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, “uncut and commercial-free,” you could tune in to TCM and partake of stories and performances that thrill, elevate, comfort — in sum, entertain in the richest possible way.

That is, once upon a time it did.

The disturbing news that Turner Classic Movies has undergone a corporate “reorg” — it has been taken over by Warner Bros. Discovery, resulting in 70 of its 90-member staff laid off, including the programmers who curate TCM’s fare with peerless taste — has hit film lovers hard and has us asking, yet again:

Must everything fine in American life be commercialized, cheesed-up, ruined?

Carla, who I have met, and her Husband, a retired Navy Captain and Washington State Legislator, are Democrats, but they understand our History and our need to honor it and build on it.  Jimmy Stewart is a good example.  Not only was he a great actor.  He was a legitimate World War II hero, learning to fly as a civilian and then joining the Army Air Forces as a bomber pilot.

Fighting the good fight, navigating as adult, going from “nuttin’ to sumpin’”: All these traits — enabling America to navigate a darkening future — are continuously on view at TCM.

Regards  —  Cliff