When Does Life Begin?

For John, BLUF:  This is the real reason Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has to go, he doubled down on New York Governor Andrew Cuemo's advocacy of killing babies born alive.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Senate Democrats block GOP anti-infanticide bill spurred by Ralph Northam comments

Here is the sub-headline:

Sen. Ben Sasse:  'You're either for babies, or you're defending infanticide'

From The Washington Times, by Ms Valerie Richardson, 4 February 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

An effort by Senate Republicans to enhance protections for newborns who survive abortions, spurred by New York and Virginia bills making it easier to perform late-term procedures, was blocked Monday by Democrats.

Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, asked for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to be approved by unanimous consent after an outcry over comments last week by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam decried on the right as pro-infanticide.

The Bill was introduced under Rule XIV and upon the objection of Sen. Patty Murray, (D-WA), died.

I am not sure Senator Sasse expected to win, but I expect he wanted to point out that the Democratic Party is moving in the direction of infanticide and eugenics (not to mention, down the road, euthanasia).

I don't believe the majority of Americans are there.  They accept abortion as a right, but not "any abortion, any time."  That day may come, but then it would be a different nation, with a different set of values.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Voting to Advance Your Objectives

For John, BLUF:  Voting your values and not your ethnicity.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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‘School Choice Moms’ Tipped the Governor’s Florida Race

Here is the sub-headline:

DeSantis owes his win to unexpected support from minority women.

From The Wall Street Journal, by Reporter William Mattox, 20 November 2018.

Here is the lede plus one:

Believe it or not, Republican Ron DeSantis owes his victory in the Florida gubernatorial election to about 100,000 African-American women who unexpectedly chose him over the black Democratic candidate, Andrew Gillum.

Of the roughly 650,000 black women who voted in Florida, 18% chose Mr. DeSantis, according to CNN’s exit poll of 3,108 voters. This exceeded their support for GOP U.S. Senate candidate Rick Scott (9%), Mr. DeSantis’s performance among black men (8%) and the GOP’s national average among black women (7%).

This is one of the reasons I am strongly opposed to the voting lawsuit against our fair City, Lowell.  The lawsuit appears to assume that people vote based on race or country of origin or some other exterior characteristic.  This is, in fact, a feature in our political mythology.  When I was young people thought Catholics voted Democrat.  But, 1948, in the small town we were living, the Protestants in town (there were six R/C families) turned out for Harry Truman.

This quote sums it up:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Regards  —  Cliff

Trump's Real Sin

For John, BLUF:  Trump didn't just win, he rejected the values of the Progressives.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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No Guilt This Time

This is from a site known as American Greatness, by Dr Mark Bauerlein, a Senior Editor at First Things and Professor of English at Emory University,

Here is an excerpt that sums up the thesis:

Which brings us back to Donald Trump.  Why do people hate him so?  Because he won’t accept this appointed condition.  He has no white guilt.  He doesn’t feel any male guilt, either, or American guilt or Christian guilt.  He talks about the United States with uncritical approval—’America First’—and that’s a thought crime in the eyes of liberals.

Here is how Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds sums it up:

He rejects their assumed position of moral and intellectual supremacy.  Which is both fair, and painful, because that position has always been a lie.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Real "War on Women"

For John, BLUF:  Eventually we are going to have to take a stand regarding Western Values, whatever that is.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Fiscal Times helps us focus on the real "War on Women", being waged by ISIL, overseas in Iraq and Syrua.

The reason we can afford to ignore this issue is that we don't think it will ever reach our shores.  Or, if it does infiltrate it will be in very small communities and not impact our sons and daughters.  I hope so.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Proper Response to Islamic Violence

For John, BLUF:  We can't solve Islam's problems for them, but we can hold them to the standards we expect of others.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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In The Wall Street Journal, dateline Sunday evening, Mr. Aly Salem, an Egyptian writer based in New York, says "Let's Talk About How Islam Has Been Hijacked".  The sub-title is "I'm appalled by what is done in the name of my religion. Yet my American friends don't want to hear it."

Yes, the question is, what are we as Americans doing right and wrong in discussions of Islam.

Here is the conclusion of the article:

Compare the collective response after each harrowing high-school shooting in America. Intellectuals and public figures look for the root cause of the violence and ask:  Why?  Yet when I ask why after every terrorist attack, the disapproval I get from my non-Muslim peers is visceral:  The majority of Muslims are not violent, they insist, the jihadists are a minority who don't represent Islam, and I am fear-mongering by even wondering aloud.

This is delusional thinking.  Even as the world witnesses the barbarity of beheadings, habitual stoning and severe subjugation of women and minorities in the Muslim world, politicians and academics lecture that Islam is a "religion of peace."  Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia routinely beheads women for sorcery and witchcraft.

In the U.S., we Muslims are handled like exotic flowers that will crumble if our faith is criticized—even if we do it ourselves.  Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats alike would apparently prefer to drop bombs in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond, because killing Muslims is somehow less offensive than criticizing their religion? Unfortunately, you can't kill an idea with a bomb, and so Islamism will continue to propagate.  Muslims must tolerate civilized public debate of the texts and scripture that inform Islamism.  To demand any less of us is to engage in the soft bigotry of low expectations.

There it is again, that dangerous phrase, "...the soft bigotry of low expectations."

The more subtle point is that ISIL (or ISIS or IS or da'eth) is not going to go away until Islam has its own internal dialogue and those of us outside the faith walk a fine line between unjustly condemning Muslims and mollycoddling Muslims.

And, at the end of the day it is their problem to fix.

Regards  —  Cliff