Disguised Theft

For John, BLUF:  Richmond Law Schoool has shown that between ethics and money, it picks money.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A Law School’s ‘Denaming’ Evokes Donor Family’s Ire

From Tax Prof Blog, by Professor Paul Caron, 11 March 2023.

Here is the lede plus one:

Following up on my previous post, After Richmond Law School Removed Slave-Owner Benefactor From Its Name, Family Demands Return Of His Donations ($3.6 Billion With 132 Years Of Interest): Inside Higher Ed, A Law School’s ‘Denaming’ Evokes Donor Family’s Ire:

When the University of Richmond’s Board of Trustees voted last fall to remove the name of alumnus and donor T. C. Williams from its law school, Williams’s descendants were irate. The board was following a new set of principles adopted earlier that year to ensure the namesakes of buildings, colleges and professorships lived up to the university’s values; the trustees decided that Williams, a wealthy tobacco farmer and slave owner, did not.

A successful law suit is very unlikely.

To me this is straight forward.  The school wishes to distance itself from a benefactor, but is unwilling to give up the financial benefit from that person.  Keep the money, but take down the name.  Hide the fact that the school benefitted from money earned in part via slavery.

This is rank hypocrisy.

I would be happy if they changed the name and then added at the end "formerly T C Williams."

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The SCOTUS Decision Leaks

For John, BLUF:  The deliberate leaking of a DRAFT SCOTUS decision on an abortion issue is an ethical blot on the Staff of the Supreme Court.  It would also be a point to examine larger social issues.  Not going to happen.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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WHEN THE MOBIUS LOOP COLLAPSES:

Posted at InstaPundet, by Mr Ed Driscoll, 3 May 2022, 2:22 pm.

Here is the tweet:

Dave Smith
@ComicDaveSmith
Progressives have given away their two favorite go to responses on abortion.

“My body my choice” rings pretty hollow after Vax mandates.

“It’s a women’s issue” is tough if there’s no definition of woman.

8:46 AM · May 3, 2022·Twitter for iPhone

The mobius loop is a connected strip of paper with no inside or outside.

At the end of the day, this is scoring points, but misses the key point, as long as women get pregnant there will be abortions and as long as there are abortions there will be the taking of human life.

My own position is that abortion is wrong, but, given our pluralistic society, abortions should be legal through the first trimester, perhaps the first five months.  After that there should be no taking of life.  Those who perform partial birth or post partium abortions (infanticide) are guilty of manslaughter.  I would allow no late term abortions for rape.  There is no incest exception, as incest is rape.  The life of the Mother should always be a consideration for the mother.  Delayed decisions should not be rewarded.

Not often discussed is the sociology of this issue.  For example, there is that fact that since the time of Ms Margaret Sanger abortions have been focused on Black Women.  Does this have anything to do with the eugenics and racist views of Ms Sanger?  The next question is why abortions need to be available for the full nine months of a pregnancy?  It would seem responsible women would quickly know they are pregnant.  Some realize almost immediately.  Others take a month or so to realize.  The "I'm just getting fat" line seems pretty weak.  Further, are parents, schools and girlfriends not helping young women to form an understanding of the responsibilities involed in having sex.  Responsibilities to one's partner and in the event of conception.  While I am not advocating use of anti-pregnancy actions, they are inherently better than abortion, after life has begun. Abortion should not be the ultimate birth control method.  Planning on that is irresponsible.  Responsible adults want to have fun, but they should be prepared to be responsible for the results of their actions. Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Filibuster For Me, But Not For Three

For John, BLUF:  The historically favored tool of Democrats was challenged by Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid, but yet often used, and now, to pass a specific piece of legislation is being pushed for elimination.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Dems block Cruz's Nord Stream 2 sanctions bill

From The Hill, by Reporters Jordain Carney and Laura Kelly, 13 January 2022, 05:51 PM EST.

Here is the lede plus two:

Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked legislation from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to slap sanctions on businesses tied to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a win for the Biden administration, which believes such sanctions could damage relations with Germany.

Senators voted 55-44 on Cruz’s legislation, falling short of the 60 votes needed for it to pass. Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.) and Raphael Warnock (Ga.) joined every Republican save Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in voting for the bill.

The vote on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will carry gas from Russia to Germany, comes at a delicate moment for White House as it navigates renewed tensions with Moscow over its buildup of troops on the border with Ukraine.

I too disagree with Senator Ted Cruz's bill for sanctions on companies assisting in building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.  However, I am shocked, shocked to find that the Democrats used the dreaded, anti-democratic filibuster.  They just reached into the tool box, without looking, and pulled out the first item their hand fell on.

The Democratic Leadership on Capitol Hill is nothing if it is not dishonest and duplicitious.

Your job, and mine, between now and 8 November is to challenge all Candidates for Congress, Representatives and Senators (none in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), as to how they stand on the filibuster and its uses and abuses.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fixing Illegal Activities at the Border

For John, BLUF:  I am against illegal immigration (or whatever our Commonwealth's Attorney General wishes to call it), but I am even more against this indirect encouragement of criminal activity in the name of humanitarianism.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Opening America’s Borders Is Not Compassionate, It’s Inhumane

Here is the sub-headline:

The more experienced hands in the emergency room diagnosed her almost at a glance. They had seen this novella many times. She was not the first, and she would not be the last.

From The Federalist, by Dr Jon Spiers, 5 July 2021.

Here is the lede plus five:

It was more than 25 years ago that we met as I worked in a border-area emergency room, but my memory of her remains crystal-clear even today.

Her coal-black eyes were piercing and never rested. They radiated fear and hatred. They engaged anyone who moved near her, digesting and assessing, as she tried to answer the ancient question: “Friend or foe?”

Her slow, cat-like movements were like clockwork: Clench her fists, flex her arms, flex her knees, slowly test the restraints on her wrists, look at the door, look at the window, look at the officer assigned to monitor her, strain to hear the sounds in the hall. She never seemed to worry with the 18-inch incision in her abdomen. She was ready to escape at the first opportunity. She had no time for her pain.

Yet it was pain that brought her here, and that saved her life. A week earlier, a call to emergency services had resulted in her passage through the doors of the emergency room and into the public health system.

A man arrived just after her who asked about her, although no one ever thought he was overly concerned about her. He vanished from the crowded waiting area soon after she was taken to surgery, where yards of dead bowel were removed, and the deadly meal she had ingested revealed.

She was a drug mule, carrying within her bowel packet after packet of cocaine, packed inside condoms she had swallowed. One of the condoms had ruptured, and the drug attacked her body, killing much of her intestines, pushing her heart to its limit, and driving her mind to near-insanity.

I feel a little like Émile Zola writing this, because I am accusing the Biden Administration and the Democratic Party of encouraging the abuse of human beings by their fellow human beings, engaged in criminal activity.

People who come across the US Southern Border are tied up in or at least touched by criminal activities, to include drug trafficking, human smuggling, prostitution and physical and sexual abuse.  These are wrong, and our current actions on the border only encourage this kind of activity.  Criminal activity.

The author ends this way:

While nothing good is ever free, the unlawful carries a price incalculable.  It is time Americans realize that to truly help the weak, the strong must stand united for lawful immigration and the value of all human life.

If the Democrats, and the Biden Administration, were truly concerned about helping the downtrodden they would (1) finish building the wall and (2) initiate some sort of free lift, by sea or air or both, from South and Central America, bringing to this Great Nation the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of other's teeming shores, the homeless, tempest-tossed seekers of a better life, lived based on freedom and hard word.

Not ideal, but better than the abuse of refugees and the encouragement of criminality and the building of (untaxed) criminal profits.

And, it might provide a dose of transparency.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Impeachment Trial

For John, BLUF:  I am guessing the Democratic Congressional Leadership is saying, "Let's throw mud and see if any of it sticks."  Not a good look for a major party.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A pithy montage of incitement hypocrisy.

From The Althouse Blog, by Prof Ann Althouse, 12 February 2021.

The casual hypocrisy.

If the Democrats had a bipartisan list, one that included Majority Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi and Representatives Adam Schiff and Maxine Waters, I might be willing to talk.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Cynical Use of Power

For John, BLUF:  This is a flashback to when then Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened the members of the US Supreme Court, less than a year ago.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Schumer tells justices they will 'pay the price' in angry rebuke

From CNN, a Flashback to Early 2020.

Here is the lede:

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, speaking at a rally of abortion rights supporters, appeared to threaten Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's two Supreme Court nominees who were confirmed after bruising nomination fights.

I think that Senator Chuck Schumer has memory problems.  He can't remember when he threated the members of the US Supreme Court.  Worse than President Trump threated the US Congress on 6 January 2021.  Or, he is just another NYC hypocrite.  Things were better before 2000, when Senator Schumer and Senator Clinton were elected.  People like Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Al D'Amato, James L Buckley, Robert F Kennedy, Jacob Javits, John Foster Dulles, Robert F Wagner and Elihu Root.

We are not seeing leadership from our Senate Majority Leader, Charles Schumer.  We are seeing naked cynicism.  I hope that Senator Schumer experiences some sort of a change of heart, and expresses that.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Hypocrisy

For John, BLUF:  Andy Ngo knows rioting, having followed ANTIFA this last year.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Rage at Capitol assault makes excuses for summer riots all the more disgraceful

From The New York Post, by Reporter Andy Ngo, 8 January 2021.

Here is the lede plus three:

Wednesday’s mob assault on Capitol Hill was shocking and brazen:  Hundreds of MAGA-hat-wearing rioters broke into the seat of American democracy.  They stormed the halls, looting property and assaulting law enforcers, all in service of an absurd political demand:  reversing the outcome of an election.

Now where had I witnessed such scenes before?  The answer:  in blue-governed cities in my native Pacific Northwest throughout last summer and into the fall and winter.

The right-wing political violence was met with universal rebuke from politicians of both parties and the media.  But many of those who are loudest in condemning the Capitol Hill riot went radio-silent when rioters destroyed and looted in the name of Black Lives Matter.

Last May, thousands of rioters in Minneapolis brought the city to its knees after the police-involved death of George Floyd.  Over three days, rioters burned down a police station, looted hundreds of businesses and burned entire neighborhoods to the ground.  Mass street violence also broke out in Washington, DC, New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle and dozens of other cities; at least two dozen died in the course of the riots.

Yes, the folks breaking into the Capitol and those doing damage (or stealing laptops) did wrong.  Those people should be prosecuted, unlike what we did with last year's rioters.

On the other hand, the net of guilt needs to not be thrown too wide.  That would be hypocrisy, especially on the part of Democrats, who managed to excuse a lot of what happened last year.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

2020 is like 2016, Reversed

For John, BLUF:  The hypocrisy is strong in the Democrats.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Democrats are now reaping the whirlwind of their 2016 election ‘Resistance’

From The New York Post, by Columnist Michael Barone, 4 December 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

“My sense is that if Trump wins, Hillary supporters will be sad,” left-wing writer Sally Kohn tweeted the day of the 2016 election.  “If Hillary wins, Trump supporters will be angry.  Important difference.”  Kohn turned out to be wrong about her own side that year, which angrily set about delegitimizing Donald Trump’s victory.  She was wrong, too, in her apparent assumption — shared by shop owners who boarded up their windows — that Trump supporters would react as violently to his defeat as the Black Lives Matter movement reacted to a death in Minneapolis.

Which is not to say President Trump and many of his supporters are responding gracefully to their candidate’s failure to repeat his 2016 feat of winning the presidency by a margin of 77,736 votes in three crucial states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania).  They are not consoled that Joe Biden’s margin of victory in this year’s three crucial states (Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin) was an even smaller 43,809 votes.

There is more to the article than these two paragraphs.  After surveying the numbers, the writer goes on to look at reactions in 2016.  Twice, in twao adjacent paragraphs he writes "in violation of longstanding norms" to talk about how Democrats♠ acted in 2016.

Yes, the Democrats are reaping what they sowed in 2016 and 2017.  It is to their advantage that they hold the House of Representatives going into 2021.  Will they be so lucky in 2023?♥  If the Democrats don't clean up their act there could be interesting hearings in 2023 and 2024.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  And, I would add, the established bureaucracy.
♥  While one can steal an election on the margin, if the voting is overwhelming for the other side then stealing will be obvious to the casual observer, and that is a bad look for the theives.

Equal Rights

For John, BLUF:  Allegations of Sexual misconduct are easy to make and hard to defend.  And in the case of Vice President Joe Biden the legal statute of limitations has run out.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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After Biden Accusation, a Lesson in Due Process

This is about the Joe Biden/Tara Reade imbroglio.

From Inside Sources, by Authors Samantha Harris and Joe Cohn, 5 May 2020.

Here is the key paragraph:

There is no better time to set our collective partisanship aside and take this opportunity to reach a mutual understanding of the value of due process and the presumption of innocence.

The rights of individuals, whichever side, need to be protected.  And, I expect women are no more protected, outside the courtroom, at work and leisure, by a reign of terror than by a proper enforcement of the law.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Democrats and Clean Electiions

For John, BLUF:  The Election in 2016 had lots of hints of foreign entanglements.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Listening to NPR out of Boston today I heard Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz say that President Trump's evil included working with Foreign Governments to influence US Elections.

I would think that this would be an area where DWS is an expert.  Should Republican Senators call her to testify as an expert witness?

The House is constipated and I am hoping that this Impeachment vote will act as some sort of a purge, freeing up the system to do some real work.  We are already late on the FY2020 Budget and USMCA and could sure use a path to citizenship for aliens, legal (rule players) and illegal (rule ignores).

I am also looking forward to the future Presidential Elections—cleaner and more focused on issues important across the Fruited Plain.  I bet Candidate Bernie Sanders is also.

Regards  —  Cliff

He Thought He Had the Photos?

For John, BLUF:  The sins of 2016 have been revised and are now being flipped against the President.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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FLASHBACK:  Schiff Caught Telling Russian Pranksters He'd Take Ukrainian Dirt on Trump

From Pajama Media, by Stephen Green, 30 September 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz just resurfaced a two-year-old audiotape of House Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) telling two Russian shock-jocks that he would "welcome the chance" take their non-existent dirty photos of President Trump.

If you'll recall from February of 2018, one of the radio hosts posed as a Ukrainian official who had information damaging to Trump, and was willing to share it with Schiff.  Gaetz is smart to bring this up now, with Schiff working hard to impeach Trump for a phone call in which he didn't actually pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating Joe and Hunter Biden.  With impeachment fever hitting triple digits in Washington (less so in the rest of the country), it's important to remember three things:

• Zelensky said his phone call with Trump was friendly, involved no pressure, and that virtually all the major news organizations clipped 540 words out of the middle of their conversation to make it appear otherwise.
• Joe Biden bragged about pressuring Ukraine into firing an investigator looking into his son Hunter, by threatening to withhold a billion dollars worth of aid.
• Schiff himself is no stranger to making stuff up, then claiming it was just a prank when he got caught.

Representative Adam Schiff is all Hollywood, but without the honesty of Tinsel Town.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Releasing Federal Government Information

For John, BLUF:  This is about getting out the facts favorable to my side, but not the facts favorable to your side.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Flynn's case could prompt release of some redacted parts of Mueller report

From CNN, by Reporter Katelyn Polantz, 27 May 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

Sought-after parts of the Mueller investigation may be made public this week, thanks to a federal judge who's taken an unusual approach in former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn's case.

Judge Emmet Sullivan of the US District Court in DC set a Friday deadline for the Justice Department to make public unredacted portions of the Mueller report that pertain to Flynn, plus transcripts of Flynn's calls with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and of a voicemail during which someone connected to Trump referenced Flynn's cooperation.

Taken together, the judge's orders look like a shortcut to transparency in a moment of executive branch stonewalling.

My question is, why are people, on the one hand, screaming for release of redacted parts of the Mueller Report, and on the other hand, screaming about President Trump giving Attorney General William Barr authority to declassify relevant documents relating to RussiaGate, such as FISA Court subpoena requests?

Hat tip to the Memeorandum.

Regards  —  Cliff

Protesting the Patriots?

For John, BLUF:  The New England Patriots, the team America loves to hate.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Tom Brady’s New England Patriots Are Team MAGA, Whether They Like It or Not

Here is the sub-headline:

Their star quarterback, coach, and owner all supported Trump.  But that’s not the only thing that makes the Super Bowl LIII-bound Patriots the preferred team of white nationalists.

From The Daily Beast, by Mr Corbin Smith, 1 February 2019.

Moving beyond the racism of Boston Sports, the writer then drags in Nick Sandman":

Remember that scumbag teen, bused into DC by his racist-ass private school to protest a woman’s right to choose, smirking at a Native American military veteran while wearing that dumb little red hat as his schoolmates stood around and did tomahawk chops?  Remember how, at first, everyone saw what was happening for what it was, entitled little shits being racist and disrespectful, until this kid’s wealthy parents hired a PR firm to run interference and coach him up to do an interview where, even if he was saying the right things on paper, he still seemed like a low-boil sociopath?

Hat tip to Memeorandum.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

You Miscreants, Shut Up

For John, BLUF:  I am disappointed in current Democratic Party performance, or the performance of some members thereof.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Legal Advisor for Kavanaugh’s Accuser Is a Big Time Democratic Donor, Thinks People Who Work for Trump Are 'Miscreants'

From Town Hall, by Reporter Timothy Meads 16 September 2018.

Here is the lede:

The Washington Post reported this afternoon that Stanford professor Christine Blasey Ford is the woman behind the confidential letter given to Sen. Dianne Feinstein accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault as a teenager.  According to the Post, Ford initially refrained from revealing the alleged information of a horrendous sexual assault due to privacy concerns for herself and her family.  But she thought it was her duty to come forward on the record after the advice of Washington lawyer Debra Katz.  Katz, however, has a long history of dismissing sexual assault allegations against liberal politicians, donating to left-wing causes, and even publicly demonizing all Trump advisors as "miscreants" who are worse than deplorables.

So, I am assuming that miscreant is worse than deplorable.

But, where does that term sit vis-a-via former Vice President Joe Biden's "Dregs of society" phrase from last weekend?

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden assailed President Trump’s supporters during a speech Saturday at the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner in Washington, lamenting that “virulent people” and the “dregs of society” still had a friend in the White House.

The Democrats are becoming more and more erudite and colorful as the November election nears.

But, they (the Democrats) still favor political advantage over fairness and justice.

Hat tip to the Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Connecticut Senator Mentally Adrift

For John, BLUF:  Freedom of speech means the Government can't shut you down.  It is not a promise of private companies publishing whatever you produce.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Or what?  You’re a governmental official and there is a thing called the First Amendment.

So that is the Tweet from Ben Shapiro.

Here is the original Tweet, from Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT):

Infowars is the tip of a giant iceberg of hate and lies that uses sites like Facebook and YouTube to tear our nation apart.  These companies must do more than take down one website.  The survival of our democracy depends on it.

So, yes, the First Amendment is about the Government.  So Facebook or some other Internet organization can dump Mr Alex Jones and his InfoWars any time it wants.

However, for Congress to mandate it would be to violently violate the First Amendment.

The other thing is, for a member of a party that uses terms like Hitler and Nazi to describe the leaders of the other major political party to then talk about "hate and lies" and tearing "our nation apart" is the height of hypocrisy.

Shame Senator Murphy, Shame!

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Golden Rule

For John, BLUF:  Bring Back Bobbie Battista.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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CBS execs are freaking out over looming Charlie Rose exposé

Acronym Alter:  NDA is a Non Disclosure Agreement.

From Page Six, by Oli Coleman, 9 April 2018.

Here is the lede:

CBS has been using NDAs to try and suppress potential sources for an upcoming exposé about Charlie Rose’s sexual misconduct.  And top network execs who worked on Rose’s shows are panicking that they’ll be accused of turning a blind eye to his sexual misconduct.

Why yes, this is the same CBS that had Ms Stormy Daniel on "60 Minutes", encouraging her to ignore her $130,000 NDA.

I feel for these folks.  They are in a tough business, made tougher by slanted political reporting.

Did they forget the Golden Rule?  No, not the one about he who has the gold rules, nor the one about "Do unto others before they do unto you".

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

SPLC Off The Track

For John, BLUF:  Not everyone who cries "Fascist" or "Nazi" at a fellow human being is on the side of the angels.  Some are on the side of Evil.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER WARNS OF FEMALE "MALE SUPREMACISTS"

Because I never tire of pointing out the hypocrisy of the SPLC.

From Front Page Magazine, on 25 February 2018, by Daniel Greenfield.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a mail order scam with all the credibility of a guy selling fake Rolex watches on a street corner at midnight, has done it again.  The same lefty hate group whose hate map led to at least one violent attack on a religious group, which listed a sign outside a bar as a hate group and blatantly faked an Islamophobia increase is back in action.

This time the SPLC is denouncing female male supremacism.  It's like white supremacism, except with men.  So it's very trendy.  But just as its Islamophobia materials accused some Muslims of being Islamophobes (because they opposed the Muslim Brotherhood), the SPLC attacks some women as "male supremacists".

We are talking here about, amongst others, Dr Helen Smith, the wife of Blogger and Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds.  As the article notes, she is a graduate of The New School.  Not a place known for generating "right wing" attitudes.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

http://right-side-of-lowell.blogspot.com/2018/03/splc-hate-organization.html

Democrats for (or against) Immigration

For John, BLUF:  Democrats have been all over the immigration map in the last few decades.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Flashback:  Jerry Brown, Biden and other Dems refused to accept Vietnamese refugees

From The World Tribune and its Staff, 30 January 2017.

Here is the lede plus four:

Some liberal Democrats are fighting back tears when discussing President Donald Trump’s travel ban on Muslims from seven nations.

But in 1975, leftist Dems went to great lengths to keep Vietnamese refugees (even orphans) out of the United States.

Trump issued the order, the White House said, so that a better system to vet refugees coming from those nations can be put into place.

The Democrat complaints in 1975 appeared to center on the fact that the refugees were escaping communism, an ideology, analysts say, liberals did not find that objectionable.

Leading the effort to ban the Vietnamese refugees was California’s Gov. Jerry Brown. Other prominent Democrats calling for the ban were Delaware’s Sen. Joe Biden, former presidential “peace candidate” George McGovern, and New York Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman.

Remember that Governor Jerry Brown is not the same as his Father, Governor Pat Brown, who was a real Democrat.

The thing is that these Democrats lost on their stand and now Orange County, California is 17.9% Asian American, with 6.1% of the 3 million plus residents being of Viet-namese extraction.  Former Viet-namese Prime Minister Nguyễn_Cao_Kỳ came to Orange County, where, for a while he ran a liquor store.  He is buried in Whittier, California.♠

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Another great fighter pilot.

Paying for "The Wall"

For John, BLUF:  Senator Dick Durbin is a prig who doesn't want a deal.  He would rather have the fight than help the Dreamers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A friend of mine sent this out in an EMail this morning:

Somewhere over the weekend I saw an interview with a wizard of analysis.  Sorry, that’s all I remember (I was engaged in a very important discussion with my wife….) EXCEPT the dollar figure cost of every illegal immigrant.  This organization did an in-depth analysis and determined that over an individual’s lifespan, each illegal immigrant cost us $75,000 each.  They included all the puts and takes – taxes paid, etc.

Bottom line: Worst case scenario, the wall pays for itself in 10 years.

Allowing for errors and inflation and cost growth and illegal immigrant leakage, let us stay 12 years.  Still, a bargain.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Can Vote?

For John, BLUF:  Yes, voting should not be suppressed.  However, those who aren't good citizens shouldn't be joining the rest of us in voting.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The new poll tax

Here is the sub-headline:

These state laws are another form of voter suppression – like gerrymandering, voter ID requirements, and bars on anyone with felony convictions from voting.

From Nation of Change, by Professor Robert Reich, 21 November 2017.

I was reading with an open mind until I got to the "like gerrymandering, voter ID requirements…".

Here is the lede plus one:

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are being denied the right to vote because they are poor.

In nine states, Republican legislators have enacted laws that disenfranchise anyone with outstanding legal fees or court fines.  For example, in Alabama more than 100,000 people who owe money – roughly 3 percent of the state’s voting-age population – have been struck from voting rolls.

Dealing first with Gerrymandering, it is an issue and it exists everywhere, including here in Lowell and Chelmsford.  This isn't a Republican issue.  This is a power issue.  That is, those who are in power, working to stay in power.  Professor Reich should understand this, having twice lived in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

As for Voter ID, there is the fact that if the folks checking you in to vote don't know you, an ID is the quick way to confirm you are who you are.  If you go to a hospital or a physician's office, you are expected to present an ID.  Why is voting different?  Besides, why isn't Professor Reich urging all those Democrats on Beacon Hill to repeal our Commonwealth's Voter ID Law?

As for felons, they lose their rights.  Should they get them back once they are out of prison and they are past all post-release encumbrances?  Maybe.  Should they then have the right to obtain a Commission in the US Army Reserve or the National Guard?  I wouldn't object to them getting their vote back after they have fully paid back their debt to society.  But, not before.

I would say that if there are small amounts owed to courts or government, then the person should be allowed to vote.  However, there should be a limit to this.  If large amounts are owed then the person should lose their right to vote.  I would draw the line somewhere between $1,000 and $10,000.

The "poll tax" line is just another Democratic Party dog whistle.

Regards  —  Cliff