Sure, why not?

The Hill: "Trump to repeal Obama fracking rule."

I'm going to have to check my records but I'm positive I lifted an article from Hit and Run that talked about the dangers of the "Imperial Presidency" when everything is governed by executive fiat.  It works great as long as your party has the pen and phone.

Searching for a limiting principle

Kevin Williamson writes about the Masterpiece Cakeshop cake: "The slope is, in fact, slippery."

Telling a black man that he may not work in your bank because he is black is in reality a very different thing from telling a gay couple that you’d be happy to sell them cupcakes or cookies or pecan pies but you do not bake cakes for same-sex weddings — however much the principle of the thing may seem superficially similar. If the public sphere is infinite, then the private sphere does not exist, and neither does private life. Having a bakery with doors open to the public does not make your business, contra Justice Harlan, an agent of the state. A bakery is not the Commerce Department or the local public high school.

A relevant precedent mentioned in the story is Wickard v. Filburn.  Farmer Filburn was minding his own business, growing wheat on his farm for private use, when the government told him he violated a government crop support program.  Thus, somehow, since everything is "public" action since it affects commerce and policy everywhere, there's no room for "private" action.

Rosa Parks of first class

If you ever doubted Sheila Jackson Lee would play the race card: "Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who was accused by a United Airlines passenger of bumping her from a first-class seat, said in a Twitter screed on Tuesday that she believes the incident is all about race."  Of course.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everybody holiday cheer.

Thumbs down-sizing

I was thinking of seeing this movie because at least the premise was unique.  Maybe not: "How 'Downsizing' Makes Matt Damon and Climate Change Dull."

How now FISA warrant?

Andrew McCarthy has a long review of how the FBI allegedly used the fake Steele dossier to secure a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign: "Was the Steele Dossier the FBI’s ‘Insurance Policy’?"

In conclusion, while there is a dearth of evidence to date that the Trump campaign colluded in Russia’s cyberespionage attack on the 2016 election, there is abundant evidence that the Obama administration colluded with the Clinton campaign to use the Steele dossier as a vehicle for court-authorized monitoring of the Trump campaign — and to fuel a pre-election media narrative that U.S. intelligence agencies believed Trump was scheming with Russia to lift sanctions if he were elected president. 

I'm sure the $700,000 the Clinton Foundation gave to the McCabes for a Virginia Senate seat had no effect on his objectivity and sense of fairness.  He's just like a journalist that way.

Pleasantly surprised

Hot Air: "Taxmageddon: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It And I Feel Fine."  CBS News lined up three families to have their previous year's taxes re-assessed under the new tax plan.  The Doomsday narrative did not match up with reality.

Here it comes

Terrible times when these tax cuts expire

Nancy Pelosi, man.  She's something else.  Rich Lowry: "Nancy Pelosi's Tax Apocalypse."  "It’s a very strange argument against passing a bill to say horrible things will happen once the legislation no longer fully applies."

The best GIF I've ever seen

A few good elves.

You said "eat your broccoli."  OMG.

Nice try, David

Here's David Leonhardt in the NY Times arguing that the payroll tax is now the largest tax paid by most Americans:

It funds Social Security and Medicare, and it has been rising in response to the aging of society and rising medical costs. It increased from 2 percent just after World War II to 6 percent in 1960 to 12.4 percent in 1990, where it is today. It has risen so much that it's now the largest tax that 62 percent of American households pay - larger than the income tax, which gets much more attention.

Yes, it's a flat tax paid equally by everybody in America and everybody is entitled to their promised benefits.  Well, that is, up until 2034 and then you're just going to have to make-do with 75% of what you thought you were going to get.   What's on your mind, David?

[The Republicans'] tax bill doesn't touch the payroll-tax rate - again, the single biggest tax that most households pay.

Yeah, right.  I'm absolutely positive that if Republicans cut the tax that funds Social Security and Medicare, the Democrats wouldn't run ads showing Paul Ryan throwing Grandma over a cliff.  Because they're fair-minded about these policy issues.

From Harvard to Princeton and Florida to Peru

And now Dustin Hoffman

I have a soft spot in my heart for Dustin Hoffman because, when I was in college, he insisted that discounted student tickets be made available for his appearance as Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice."  Good show, although it was difficult to imagine him as a Venetian Jew instead of a guy yelling "I'm walkin' here!"  "If you prick me, do I not bleed while I'm walkin' here!?"

Anyway, he's the latest victim of Pervnado: "Three More Women Allege Dustin Hoffman Sexually Abused Them."  

All aboard

It now looks like all the Republicans in the Senate are going to support the tax reform bill.  Fox News: "Rubio, Corker back tax bill as Trump predicts 'monumental' reform will pass next week."

Dire Straits into the Rock and Roll HOF

I can't believe they weren't already in considering that "Sultans of Swing" from their self-titled debut was released in 1978.

Most people are embarrassed by their first concert but mine was Dire Straits at the (then) Brendan Byrne arena in New Jersey.  I saw them around 1985 and the "Brothers in Arms" tour with my buddy Mike.  Great show although at the time I didn't appreciate their full discography.

Equal opportunity

Man, this guy hates everyone.  Hot Air: "The Curious Case Of “Hate Speech” At Buena Vista University." 

The unforgivable sin

The Corner: "The Double Standard for Trump Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders."  "Just when you think a media establishment that has lost its collective mind, credibility, and sense of decency since last November can’t go any lower, it does. These sexist, cruel taunts have little to do with Sanders’s job performance or making sure the American public gets the facts from a sometimes fact-averse White House. Viewed from a wider lens, the treatment of Sarah Sanders has little to do with Sanders at all. The vicious ridicule is directed at all conservative women — particularly women from the South — whom the Left will never forgive for helping elect Donald Trump."

Ugh, I'm going to skip the "big" news today

Here's Nancy Pelosi doing what she does best: lie.  Hot Air: "Three Pinocchios For Pelosi On Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act."

The Right hates free speech?

Hit and Run: "The End of Free Speech - In 2017, the left eats its own and the right shows its true colors."

But as the weather cooled, the GOP revealed its true colors. Led by an increasingly vehement and erratic President Donald Trump, the same party that was poised to die on the hill of free speech when it was being threatened by angry progressives was suddenly ready to eliminate First Amendment rights on the football field, revoke citizenship for flag burning, pull broadcast licenses over bad comedy sketches, and expand libel laws to take down annoying members of the media. There are greater threats to speech, it turns out, than a bunch of angry co-eds.

For the record, I don't believe in any of this nonsense.  I'm on record a year ago stating that Colin Kaepernick can protest all he wants but the NFL is under no obligation to provide him with a job.  All that other stuff is the fever dream of Trump who can't suppress his punitive tendencies.

They can't help themselves

The thing I love about journalists - like Democrat donors on the Mueller team - is that they actually believe they can turn off their bias once they get to their jobs.  But if you assume they're just Democrats with bylines (as Instapundit characterizes), it all makes sense.  The Intercept: "The U.S. Media Yesterday Suffered its Most Humiliating Debacle in Ages: Now Refuses All Transparency Over What Happened."

But what one should expect with journalistic “mistakes” is that they sometimes go in one direction, and other times go in the other direction. That’s exactly what has not happened here. Virtually every false story published goes only in one direction: to be as inflammatory and damaging as possible on the Trump/Russia story and about Russia particularly. At some point, once “mistakes” all start going in the same direction, toward advancing the same agenda, they cease looking like mistakes.

It's astonishing that the media faces a President who consistently calls it "fake news" and then just as consistently supplies it.

Flashback - Gallup: "Americans' Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low."  This poll was two months before you "got Trump." 

Liberalism is a hell of a drug

I find it hard to believe that this is the first time Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw has read something by Paul Krugman.  The naivete of this statement is stunning; he must be reiterating what everybody already knows:

Paul seems to take the position that unless you agree with him about the tax bill, you are unprincipled. In the world as I see it, reasonable people can disagree, and progress is best made when people do not question the moral rectitude of others simply because they hold different opinions.

Here's a reminder that the New York Times ombudsman found that Krugman shades the truth:

Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults.

Well, his mindset is that he has his opinion and you're wrong.  Must be fun at parties.

Layers of fact-checkers

Hot Air: "Yeah, About CNN’s Big Trump Scoop."  Democracy dies among dumbasses.

Update - Gateway Pundit: "House Intel Democrats Intentionally Fed Donald Trump Jr./WikiLeaks #FakeNews To CNN."

Debt forever

Hit and Run: "Who's Ready for Some Trillion-Dollar Republican Deficits?"  "And now, after another Obama-era doubling of the debt, and the successful removal of Democrats from federal power, Republicans are ushering in a new era of…would you believe trillion-dollar deficits?"

Skynet, here we come!

Ars Technica: "DeepMind AI needs mere 4 hours of self-training to become a chess overlord."

You had one job

Hot Air: "Remember Our Yuuuge Trump Scoop Yesterday? Well …."  "For the second time in a week, a major media outlet has blown its coverage of Trump with shoddy reporting and a lack of editorial oversight." 

It is inexplicable when you have a President who constantly talks about "fake news" and then the mainstream media falls into the same trap over and over again.

High infidelity

Of course, I saw the 2007 movie "I Am Legend" first but recently I picked up the book at a library book sale; just finished it last night.  Here are all the similarities between the movie and the book:

There's a character named Robert Neville.

That's about it.  When I was done, it was bizarre to think the movie was based on the book: the setting, themes, characters and story are only peripherally related.  It would have been less jarring to read about the Joads heading out to California.

There is no collusion

USA Today: "If Michael Flynn's 'crime' is all Robert Mueller has, it is time to move on."

I've been involved in a comment war on the local newspaper's web site with people who fervently believe that every day will be the day Mueller releases his bombshell that will bring down Trump.

The man with a plan

Hot Air links to a CNN article: "FBI Agent Dismissed From Russiagate Probe For Bias Altered Language In Comey’s Clearing Of Hillary Clinton."

From the legally parlous "grossly negligent" to "extremely careless" on the way to "honest mistake."

Extra - A lot more from Ace.

R.I.P. America

PJ Media: "5 Absurd Overreactions to the Senate Passing Tax Reform."

Allowing Americans to keep a little more of their income = mass murder.

Is it ever

Daily Beast: "SNL’s Toothless Trump Schtick Is Tired as Hell - After a record-breaking, Emmy-winning season, ‘Saturday Night Live’ is struggling to get laughs with its unimaginative Trump-bashing skits."

Something I missed last night

I confess: I stayed up until 2am watching C-Span to see if the Republicans would finally pass the tax reform bill.  The Democrats' point man was Oregon senator Ron Wyden who did nothing to dispel the notion that the Dem leadership is full of old-timers; the man looks like death warmed over.

But my glee should have been doubled.  The Hill: "Senate GOP repeals ObamaCare mandate."  Thus ends the thing I always hated the most about Obamacare: forcing Americans to buy something.

Good enough for horseshoes

Hot Air: "ABC: Our Hugely Damning Report About Trump And Flynn Earlier Might Have Gotten One Tiny Detail Wrong."  Oopsie!

Rex-it

Me, in August: "I never thought Rex Tillerson would last very long...."

Fox News: "Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to leave his post in January, sources told Fox News, with CIA Director Mike Pompeo being eyed to take his place."

The mask drops completely

Federalist: "The New York Times Finally Admits It’s Just A Democrat Super PAC."

We pretty much knew.

It's funny but not "ha-ha" funny

Hot Air: "Lauer Locked Women In Office — And Management Covered For Him."

I recently mused to my wife: "Wow, have you ever seen a career implode like Kevin Spacey's?"  That was then.

New sheriff in town

The Hill: "Court sides with Trump in consumer agency fight."  I know this was a decision by a Trump judge but the other side of the argument was that Leandra English deserved her seat at the CFPB because of the "absence and unavailability" clause, the kind of language used for a guy on vacation.

Extra - Legal Insurrection: "This is yet another sad failure in the Democrats string of attempts to circumvent the power of the executive. Executive power is only desirable with it’s ideologically agreeable, you see."  I think I said that yesterday.

The exception to the law

Powerline: "The Left clings to power at the CFPB."  I get the impression that this is another one of those things where the law is very clear, unless you're Trump.

Sounds like I missed a bravura performance from Pelosi

I was on the road this morning so I missed "Meet the Press" but it sounds like Nancy Pelosi made a complete mess of her excuse-fest for John Conyers.  Hot Air: "Pelosi Chokes, Won’t Say That “Icon” Conyers Should Resign Over Settlement Of Harassment Allegations."

Allow me to focus just on this one evasion, via Patterico:

CHUCK TODD: Do you believe John Conyers’ accusers?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: I don’t know who they are. Do you? They have not really come forward. And that gets to —
CHUCK TODD: So you don’t know if you believe the accusations?
REP. NANCY PELOSI:  Well, that’s for the Ethics Committee to review. But I believe he understands what is at stake here and he will do the right thing.

But, wait, I've been told that women never lie about stuff like this.  Also: due process?  Conyers entered a settlement with one of his accusers, as Chuck Todd pointed out.  Nancy Pelosi is the first female Speaker of the House and her legacy will be using the "icon" proviso for John Conyers in exactly the same way Gloria Steinham advanced the "one free grope" rule for Bill Clinton:

The notorious 1998 New York Times op-ed by Gloria Steinem must surely stand as one of the most regretted public actions of her life. It slut-shamed, victim-blamed, and age-shamed; it urged compassion for and gratitude to the man the women accused. Moreover (never write an op-ed in a hurry; you’ll accidentally say what you really believe), it characterized contemporary feminism as a weaponized auxiliary of the Democratic Party.

Protect and - if necessary - service the right "icons."

Update - OMG, it's as bad as everybody characterized:

Media bias in the age of Trump

Politico magazine: "Want to Know Why Roy Moore Might Win? Blame the Media."

Remember all of the hostile press conferences and exchanges that Washington reporters routinely had with the Obama White House, or when Obama’s daily utterances were challenged every day on CNN? Conservatives don’t. Although Obama veterans surely see it differently, the press corps offered largely favorable coverage of the Obama years—at least when compared to Republican administrations. Plenty of surveys bare that out. Such as this one. And this one. And articles such as this one. And this one—this one, too. Conservatives do remember, however, the endless attacks on Reagan’s mental abilities, on George H. W. Bush’s alleged out-of-touch elitism, and on his son’s various verbal miscues and alleged racial insensitivity.

Remember: "Maybe we should ask Barack if he’s comfortable and needs another pillow."?  Nothing has changed at all.

Going the Mizzou route

Taki's Magazine: "Let the colleges die."  "American colleges are no longer institutions of higher learning. It would be more apt to refer to them as state-sanctioned seminaries for the secular religion of Cultural Marxism. Instead of strolling out of college with nimbler minds, students now stumble out into the real world with their brains scrubbed clean of the ability to hatch a single independent thought."  (Hat tip: Maggie's Farm.)

So this guy's pretty much given up on getting back into the NFL

San Francisco Gate: "Colin Kaepernick makes surprise appearance at 'Unthanksgiving Day' on Alcatraz."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yes, have a good day, America.

The loyal opposition

The line between the mainstream media and the political Left is blurred once again:

Washington Post reporter Janell Ross gave a presentation at a secretive California gathering where Democratic politicians, liberal activists, and their biggest donors plotted the future of the progressive movement without notifying her superiors that she would be attending, according to a Post spokesman.

Don't worry: these professionally-trained reporters can turn on the objectivity just like that.

Awww...David Cassidy

She's a dummy but at least she has no principles

Minuteman: "How great is it to watch Lena Dunham spend a few moments on the sexual harassment dunk tank? Here is a woman of no conviction and no evident ability to anticipate the most obvious of points and counterpoints and she is simply flailing."

Lena Dunham is the "Mattress Girl" of Hollywood.  She desperately wants attention and victimhood and isn't above accusing a former college classmate of rape to achieve this status (and sell books):

Humiliated and facing a litigation nightmare, Random House paid the falsely accused College Republican’s legal fees after his lawyer complained. Stung and exposed, Dunham carped about conservative journalists who refused to cover up the real truth. She nursed her self-inflicted wounds by publishing a self-pitying diatribe on the liberal website Buzzfeed and posted a prominent Twitter selfie with runny mascara mimicking two black eyes.

Does Dunham think she can write "women don't lie about rape" and then do a 180-degree pivot without inviting ridicule?  I don't believe she thinks that far ahead; it's all about the buzz, that sweet, sweet "look at me" buzz.  And if crying wolf means that some women are not believed when they claim Charlie Rose grabbed some thigh, well, that's a sacrifice she's willing to make.

Whoever paid $1 for Newsweek got robbed

What an embarrassment.  Twitchy: "Journalism: Newsweek finds the hidden connection between Trump and Charles Manson." 

She didn't do nothin'

Old Lois Lerner: I didn't block Tea Party applications.

New Lois Lerner: You better seal my testimony or people will kill me.

Martin Truex Jr. wins NASCAR championship

I realize that stock car racing isn't everyone's cup of tea but today's championship race was one for the ages, especially if you love rooting for the underdog.

In previous seasons, races have been dominated by teams that could pool resources and throw a lot of money behind car development and personnel.  In 2010, for example, Jimmie Johnson's pit crew chief replaced the entire crew with another Hendricks Motorsports team.  This imbalance between the high-money teams and the single-car teams was all-too-evident during the years when the Hendrick, Childress, and Gibbs teams rolled to victory lane nearly every week.

So, brother, you just had to root for the single-car Furniture Row team and their New Jersey (!) driver Martin Truex Jr.  Truex was having a dream season with the most wins and top 10 finishes and all the pieces came together for him in the premiere race, holding off a determined run from Kyle Busch.  After the win, Truex was drenched with sweat and tears and I'm sure he kept his helmet on until he could compose himself.

Fish gotta swim

Power Line: "Democrats revive the 'trickle down' smear."

Man's best friend

Time: "It’s Official: Dog Owners Live Longer, Healthier Lives."

I didn't want another dog after we had to put our last one down but one day I came home and - surprise! - my wife got another dog.  She's lying against me right now.  I'm too proud to admit that I wanted another dog, so let's leave it at that.

We've reached peak grope

Between Franken, Moore, and the scattered Bill Clinton reference, I think Memeorandum is 80% sexual assault right now.

Bad history

The Corner: "Democracy in Chains and the Scandal of Tonight’s National Book Awards." 

Finally

Fox News: "Zimbabwe army takes control, Mugabe and wife in custody."

It's been a while since I wrote about the monster Robert Mugabe who turned the bread basket of Africa into a wasteland.  As a refresher, here's an excellent article: "How to kill a country."

Supreme Court: It's a tax

Twitchy: "Sen. John Thune drops the mic on Dems objecting to adding individual mandate repeal to tax bill."  That means it can be repealed via budget reconciliation with only 50 votes in the Senate.

Don't screw this up, Republicans or it's Virginias for the near future.

2018 is almost here, New Yorkers!

Deplorable Climate Science Blog: "NASA’s top climate expert, James Hansen, predicted that by 2018 the Arctic would be ice-free, and Lower Manhattan would be underwater. Democrats call him a “climate prophet.” Only six weeks left to go!"

Teach your children well

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, this article in the NY Times is so morose that it would take a heart of stone not to laugh.  Behold: "Can my child be friends with white people?"  Here's the moment I LOL'd.

I do not write this with liberal condescension or glee. My heart is unbearably heavy when I assure you we cannot be friends.

Oh, heavens no, it's not liberal condescension at all defining every Trump voter as a racist.  I feel bad for this person's kids.

Extra - Red State: "Objective Racism In A New York Times Op-Ed."  And Twitchy suggests that re-segregation must be the only solution.

More - Michael Walsh: "Before the liberal revolution is over, we'll be back to segregating the sexes -- in the name of "safety" -- and the races -- in the name of "empowerment."

You better sit down, kids

National Review: "Social Security Makes Millennials Less Financially Responsible." And, in the long run, broker than if they just put the money in a savings account.

Social Security was intended to help Americans finance their retirements, but the data suggest that young workers would be better off doing almost anything else with that money. A report by the Urban Institute, a liberal think tank, found that workers earn a paltry rate of return on their Social Security investment. A young woman born in 1995 who starts working at 22, making $47,800 per year, will pay $466,000 into the program by the time she retires (the Urban Institute, like the Brookings Institute, assumes that the employee will pay both her share and her employer’s share). She’ll only receive $569,000 in current dollars — which means a 22.1 percent increase over 43 years. And that’s assuming that Social Security benefits don’t fall, even though funding shortages make that a real possibility.

"Real possibility?"  The Social Security Trustees themselves say the Trust Fund will be depleted in 2035, whereupon benefits will be reduced by 20-25%.

Uninterrupted

I know there were little jump-cuts here and there but "Mr. Robot" just ran essentially 45 minutes of a single-shot scene.  It was incredible.

Of course they do

The Left hates free speech, forever.  Reason Online: "Columbia Student Group Thinks Student Groups It Disagrees With Should Be Defunded - The Black Students' Organization thinks the College Republicans are peddling violent speech."

The latest resident in Hell

Heard this on NPR driving home: "The Texas Church Shooter Should Have Been Legally Barred From Owning Guns."  Not notionally as in "he's crazy," mind you.  Legally he did not have the right to own firearms due to a vicious domestic violence conviction by the Air Force.

Free speech on campus

Inside Higher Ed: "Presidents and Provosts Gather to Consider Free Speech Issues."  HT: Maggie's Farm.

The good news appears to be that most agree that free speech should be defended: "Diermeier and other participants said the presidents were in strong agreement with principles of free speech, without exceptions. "Those principles apply irrespective of the ideological perspective of the speakers," he said."

The best and brightest

AP: "Inside story: How Russians hacked the Democrats' emails"

A malicious link was generated for Podesta at 11:28 a.m. Moscow time, the AP found. Documents subsequently published by WikiLeaks show that the rogue email arrived in his inbox six minutes later. The link was clicked twice.

Podesta’s messages — at least 50,000 of them — were in the hackers’ hands.

As somebody once asked: is it really "hacking" when all you need to do is find somebody dumb enough to click on such an obvious phishing scam?

F. Lee Barkley was not available

Not the Onion.  Washington Post: "The suspect told police ‘give me a lawyer dog.’ The court says he wasn’t asking for a lawyer."

When a friend says, “I’ll hit you up later dog,” he is stating that he will call again sometime. He is not calling the person a “later dog.”

But that’s not how the courts in Louisiana see it. And when a suspect in an interrogation told detectives to “just give me a lawyer dog,” the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that the suspect was, in fact, asking for a “lawyer dog,” and not invoking his constitutional right to counsel. It’s not clear how many lawyer dogs there are in Louisiana, and whether any would have been available to represent the human suspect in this case, other than to give the standard admonition in such circumstances to simply stop talking.

C'mon man.

Some of these...well, they're something

Hit and Run: "Behold the Work of Russia's Evil Advertising Geniuses - Satan is on Clinton's side, and check out this coloring book featuring a buff Bernie Sanders!"

Halloween 2017

Good: Most kids were polite and said "thank you."

Bad: Nobody commented on my "Mr. Robot" costume.

Worst: "NYC terror attack leaves 8 dead, several injured."

Tony Podesta and Vin Weber?

Hot Air: "D.C. Court Has Four More Sealed Indictments Pending Between Papadopoulos’s And Manafort’s."

I forget where I was reading it today but the Podesta Group and Weber's Mercury Group were the lobbyists who were helping Manafort in Ukraine.  So maybe them.

Scratch a liberal, find a tyrant

Hot Air: "NY Times Publishes Column Critical Of The Left’s Soft Spot For Communism With Predictable Results."

A while ago I saw a poll that asked: "If you could choose three books to change somebody's mind, what would they be?"  One of my choices was Joshua Muravchik's "Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism."  Communism and socialism have always led to shortage and privation but the Left likes to hold tight to the dream of good intentions.

Extra - Now bake me a cake.  Over at Twitchy, Bernie Sanders tells us how to be "truly free" by submitting to the all-powerful state.

The next purple, spangled, high-top Converse to drop

I've never heard of these rumors.  Red State: "The Next Big Hollywood Sex Scandal Is Already Breaking…At Nickelodeon." 

That's not suspicious

Washington Times: "Obama AG Lynch refuses to discuss notorious Clinton tarmac meeting with Russia probe: Report."

Former President Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch met behind closed doors with a congressional Russian election meddling probe on Friday.

Republicans were eager to question her about an infamous tarmac meeting with former President Bill Clinton in June 2016, a meeting which has triggered suspicions about the Obama Department of Justice’s impartiality toward Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton at the height of the election.

But Mrs. Lynch refused to discuss the meeting before the House Intelligence Committee on Friday, according to Fox News.

Those are some secret golf tips.

Tea Party windfall

Hot Air: "Trump Administration Settles With Tea Party Groups Over IRS Scrutiny."  A settlement called "very substantial."

Awww...Fats Domino

I have to admit: I didn't know he was still kicking.  Um, until today.  This was always one of my faves:

Could we please not?

Hot Air: "Clinton Campaign, DNC Paid For Russia Dossier Research."

Stay tuned for another carefully crafted statement from Hillary as soon as her army of lawyers and advisers settle on the wording she will use. And Andrea Mitchell should stay by the phone in case Hillary’s people need to arrange an exclusive interview with a friendly outlet this week.

I'm indifferent to this story: Clintons are going to Clinton and try to win elections.  Is anybody surprised?  If anything, I'm piqued at the media where this was apparently an open secret.  It took a subpoena of Fusion GPS's records to bring it out into the open.

Nye gets one right

Daily Caller: "‘I Am A Failure’: Bill Nye Opens Up About His Global Warming Activism."

People be nuts

Be an adult and move on already.  NBC Boston: "'Scream Helplessly at the Sky' at Boston Common on Election Anniversary."

Everybody chill out for a sec

PBS (of all places): "Why your alarmism over Trump is dangerous for democracy."

To state the obvious, Americans, like all citizens of a democracy, have the right to elect bad, even very bad, politicians.

Or, to quote H.L. Mencken: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."

Hat tip: Instapundit.

Take a hike, fatty

Doug Ross: "Death panels are real: UK’s NHS Bans Surgery for Smokers and the Obese."

Rutgers beats Purdue? Rutgers beats Purdue!

USA Today: "Rutgers is on a two-game win streak, and people cannot believe it."  Some of these tweets are hilarious:

Rutgers has now won back-to-back B1G games. pic.twitter.com/uOA8CiDXzM

— Matt Schick (@ESPN_Schick) October 21, 2017

The Counterpuncher

Here's Rich Lowry in the Corner: "The Out that Trump never permits himself."  Regarding the military family that was offended by Trump's phone call:

The normal thing to do in this situation would be for the person who said something that was taken the wrong way — especially when it is the president of the United States and the aggrieved party has just lost a loved one in uniform — to come back and say something like, “I really didn’t meant it the way you heard it and it pains me to think that I’ve in any way added to your distress. Please accept my apology and deepest condolences.”

If Trump could bring himself to do this, it would, 1) be the right thing to do; 2) instantly drain this controversy of much of its power; 3) win him praise, even from some unexpected quarters. But Trump can never give even a little ground, because any disagreement or criticism instantly becomes personal and the occasion for combat, no matter what the circumstance.

I don't know why this guy hasn't developed an emotional maturity that most people acquire by the time they're 15.  My working theory is that something happened when he went away to military school.  But, more and more, you're seeing Republicans like Corker, Ryan, and Bush giving notice that they're getting pretty sick of his...stuff.

The other day, referring to Trump's take-no-prisoners approach, somebody wrote: "We tried nice guys with McCain and Romney."  This is reading way too much into Trump's victory which was an aberration because he was facing a particularly un-liked opponent.  And even if it were true that Trump's combativeness helped him win the Presidency, it's become unseemly for a President.

Awesome sauce

Hit and Run: "Republicans Officially Give Up Trying to Cut Spending - After all that fuss from 2009 onward, Rand Paul is the last Republican left objecting to the continued growth of government."

Always keep your mouth shut

There's a scene that always cracks me up in the otherwise-mediocre movie "Role Models."  A lawyer is meeting with a client who is accused of stealing televisions.  He denies it.  Then he's shown a video of him boosting TVs while saying: "Look at me!  Me, David Garvin, stealing TVs!"

I thought of that when I saw this story on Zero Hedge: ""I Think We Got Away With It": HSBC Trader's Fate Left To Jurors After Damning Phone Recordings Revealed."

Just a regular meeting

It's come to this.  The Corner: "UC Santa Cruz College Republicans Shouted Down" for meeting at a library.

Update - Hot Air has the video.  These kids are absolutely bonkers.

Fairfax who?

In Northam's defense, black toner cartridges are wicked expensive.  Ace: "Virginia Democrat Gubernatorial Candidate Ralph Northam Deletes Black Running Mate from Campaign Literature."

Welcome back

This is a Harvard professor writing

Newsweek (online) relays a five-point plan from professor Lawrence Lessig for Hillary to become President.  The plan, unfortunately, falls apart at step #1.  And #2 through #4.  And then it goes completely off-the-rails into Crazytown with #5.  Thanks for wasting my time, jerk.

The comments are the best part of the article: equal parts disbelief and suspicion that this is some next-level trolling of Democrats.

No insurance accepted

Interesting twist over at Hit and Run: "These Doctors Got Fed Up With Insurance. Now They Treat Their Patients Like Valued Customers. - The “direct primary care” movement is attracting physicians sick of red tape. And it’s transforming the doctor-patient relationship."

Mr. Honor and Distinction

Federalist: "Bowe Bergdahl Pleads Guilty For Deserting His Post In Afghanistan."

It only took five Guantanamo prisoners in trade plus six dead Americans.

Extra - Power Line: "The Bergdahl deception."

Ugly win

Wow, that Patriots game was...something.  MassLive: "Angry Jets fans convinced NFL is rigged for Patriots after controversial Austin Seferian-Jenkins fumble call."

As a NASCAR fan, it's somewhat of a joke that NASCAR tends to tip the scales to help out Dale Earnhardt Jr., the most popular driver.  This "fumble" call to help the Patriots has the same feel.

Extra - Twitchy: "LOL: Trump to blame for ‘worst call in NFL history’ that favored the Patriots?"  Sure, why not.

Obamacare's illegal subsidies

Andrew McCarthy: "Trump Faithfully Executes Obamacare; Media, Democrats Go Nuts."

The subsidy payments to insurance companies may be “critical” to sustaining the ACA, but they are not provided for in the ACA. The Obamacare law did not appropriate them. No legislation appropriates them. They are and have always been illegal.

To his credit, David Greene of NPR asked Zeke Emamuel about this very question of legality on "Morning Edition" and Emanuel's initial response was that Trump should have just kept on paying these unappropriated funds.  Because Constitution-schmonstitution.

Extra - Red State: "Democrats Sue To Force President Trump To Break The Law And Ignore A Court Order."  "The idea that a president can be sued with the objective of making him break the law is so outrageous that one wonders if “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” really has any meaning to the Democrat party."

Turnabout...is still wrong

Power Line: "Trump supporters shout down liberal speakers."

Keep it on the DL

Fox News: "NY Times changes social media guidelines so reporters don't appear biased."

Unclear on the concept

Have I mentioned recently that the Left hates free speech?  Hit and Run: "Kmele Foster Gets Shouted Down by Black Lives Matter Activists After Pointing out That MLK Used Free Speech Protections—Wait, What? - This is your brain on campus activism."

System of a downer

Prof. Jacobson: "Legal Insurrection is 9 years old, and filled with dread."

It doesn't sound like he wants to stay together at all

Fox News: "Al Green introduces articles of impeachment against Trump."

Always a good day when a tax is axed

Washington Free Beacon: "Bloomberg Fails Again With Soda Tax Repeal in Cook County - Billionaire spent $5 million promoting tax, only got two votes to save it."

Take a knee, ESPN

Instapundit: "Toward a Unified Theory of Contemporary Institutional Failure."  "So in ESPN we see an institution that is recklessly alienating its prime customer base, and only now — much too late — beginning to dimly sense that it’s in trouble."

In related news, Roger Goodell asks - pretty please - could you stand for the National Anthem?

Tax the rich!

I can't believe this story.  It's really true that the those who fail to learn history are condemned to repeat it.  Independent: "Emmanuel Macron to introduce new tax on expensive jewellery, supercars and luxury yachts."

Let's call this the "American Boating Employment Act of 2017."  I remember what happened to the yachting industry when Congress passed something similar here in 1991:

In 1990 there were no luxury excise taxes, all of them having been repealed in 1965. But perhaps every quarter-century or so government--it cannot help itself--must go on a "fairness" bender, the memory of the hangover from similar misadventures having faded.

In 1990 the Joint Committee on Taxation projected that the 1991 revenue yield from luxury taxes would be $31 million. It was $16.6 million. Why? Because (surprise!) the taxation changed behavior: Fewer people bought the taxed products. Demand went down when prices went up. Washington was amazed. People bought yachts overseas. Who would have thought it?

According to a study done for the Joint Economic Committee, the tax destroyed 330 jobs in jewelry manufacturing, 1,470 in the aircraft industry and 7,600 in the boating industry. The job losses cost the government a total of $24.2 million in unemployment benefits and lost income tax revenues. So the net effect of the taxes was a loss of $7.6 million in fiscal 1991, which means the government projection was off by $38.6 million. 

Didn't France just go through a painful lesson on taxing the rich?  Some people never learn.  It's just too easy and politically popular to take somebody else's money.

Oh boy

This will make some heads explode: a Democrat strategist says Trump is on his way to re-election.

It's funny because it's an irony statue

Hot Air: "Company Behind “Fearless Girl” To Pay $5 Million For Pay Discrimination Against Women Executives."

California leads the way

For years, I've been advocating entitlement reform while using the phrase "crowding out" as in spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will overwhelm the entire Federal budget.  If you want to see the future, look first at the Golden State.  Hit and Run: "Like Schools, Parks, Social Programs? Too Bad, Because Retirees Get Paid First - New report shows how California's pension obligations are crowding out spending on other things."

Until, like Detroit, they don't.  Then it's "haircuts" for everybody.

It's like an assembly line now

PJ Media: "Report: General Kelly 'Pulled Off' Air Force One Flight to Las Vegas, May Resign This Week."

Just a reminder: Tom Price was last week and Rex Tillerson won't make it out of October.

The Left hates free speech, the continuing saga

Hit and Run: "Black Lives Matter Students Shut Down the ACLU's Campus Free Speech Event Because 'Liberalism Is White Supremacy'."

Also: freedom is slavery.

Carving up the districts

The Supreme Court has started its new session and, first out of the gate, is a gerrymandering case.  Politico: "Supreme Court eyes partisan gerrymandering."

I can definitely see both sides of this argument: on the one hand, state legislatures redraw Congressional districts to maximize advantages to their respective parties.  But when you have a splotch of a ketchup stain defining a district, has gerrymandering gotten out of control?  Maybe.

But maybe a better argument is this: the Supreme Court shouldn't be involving itself in a two-century-old practice that is essentially a political fight within a State:

Chief Justice John Roberts, who's known for a desire to safeguard the high court's reputation, was unusually blunt about his concern that opening the door to partisan gerrymandering cases would flood the Supreme Court docket with litigation and drag the justices into a political morass. He said voters will look askance at the notion that districts failed to meet a complex formula that assesses wasted votes and a so-called "efficiency gap."

"You're taking these issues away from democracy and you're throwing them into the courts pursuant to—and it may be simply my educational background, [what] I can only describe as sociological gobbledygook," the chief justice opined. "The intelligent man on the street is going to say, 'That's a bunch of baloney. It must be because the Supreme Court preferred the Democrats over the Republicans.'...That is going to cause very serious harm to the status and integrity of the decisions of this court in the eyes of the country."

Opening the door to gerrymandering cases in Federal Court would politicize the Court as they debate whether a State district should be drawn on one or the other side of the highway.

Extra - SCOTUSBlog adds: "Thirteen years ago, the justices rejected a challenge to Pennsylvania’s redistricting plan, with four justices agreeing that courts should decline to review partisan-gerrymandering claims, because it is too hard to come up with a manageable test to determine when politics plays too influential a role in redistricting." As usual, all eyes on Kennedy again.

What happened to Stephen Paddock?

Nobody can figure out a motive for this guy who apparently was a well-off professional, if a bit of a loner.  The closest analogue I can reach for is Charles Whitman who was found to have had a brain tumor.

Wait, wait, don't tell me

it seems there's been a stabbing at a train station in Marseille, France.
The now-dead suspect has been described as North African and in his late-20s.
He shouted something.

A tipping point, so to speak

NPR: "Study Finds More Adults Are Obese Than Underweight."

Tom Price out

Andy Warhol said that in the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes.

I think in the Trump Administration, everybody will be Secretary for 15 minutes.  Fox News: "HHS Secretary Tom Price resigns over private plane trips."

NYT: "World to end, women hit hardest."

Power Line has the latest from the Gray Lady on tax reform: "Captain Obvious at the NY Times."

"The plan would not benefit lower-income households that do not pay federal income taxes."

No kidding.

What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

NY Post: "Multiple arrested after fight inside Berkeley’s ‘empathy tent’." 

Anything goes, Trump-style

Look who has a pen and a phone now.  Washington Examiner: "Trump preparing executive order to let Americans purchase health insurance across state lines."

I didn't think a President could do that but Ace convinced me otherwise:

Is this constitutional? Well, if Obamacare has taught us anything, it's that it's endlessly mutable according to the whim of the president -- and the Supreme Court has blessed this regime of unconstitutional reinterpretations-by-decree at least twice.

So much of Obama's agenda depended on President Hillary.  Oops.

The New York Times sucks

I have to admit that I'm facing a dearth of topics to blog about recently.  I don't want to talk about the past which includes Hillary and Obama.  I'm in the Ben Shapiro camp when it comes to Trump.  The Republicans' recent half-assed attempt to repeal Obamacare was always doomed to failure; these dummies will probably botch tax reform too.  The culture wars are an exhausting marathon of outrage.

Thank heaven there's always the failing New York Times to fill the void.  Don Surber: "It's official: NYT couldn't cover a Dumpster fire in its newsroom."

How lousy is the New York Times today? Its staff is so inept that it would not be able to cover a Dumpster fire in its newsroom.

Here was the set-up. A staffer ("a contributing writer") for the New York Times Magazine wrote a book. The editors assigned another staffer to review the book.

Not only did the book reviewer pan the book, but she made numerous errors in the review, so many that the Times had to issue a lengthy correction -- which only brought further attention to the author getting a bad review.

The reviewer was a recent hire of editorial editor James "I don't read the paper" Bennet.

Steelers not going to play this particular game

MassLive: "Entire Pittsburgh Steelers team will not participate in national anthem, stay in locker room."  From the statement of head coach Mike Tomlin, it sounds like they just want to avoid the whole deal: "We're not participating in the anthem today, not to be disrespectful to the anthem, to remove ourselves from this circumstance."

I feel the need to explain this tweet

Mary Katherine Ham was attacked as a "liar" because of her Fox News career.  She responded with this napalm firebombing:

It's amusing to me that someone who edited TNR is sensitive about potential fabulism. See how dumb this can get? Just mad bc I'm not a liar. https://t.co/fI0P9SEEqn

— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) September 22, 2017

So, according to Twitchy, Mr. Chotiner deleted his embarrassing tweet.  For the record, the New Republic got caught up in "the most spectacular, sustained campaign of fabrication known to American journalism" when it got taken in by Stephen Glass.

Molon labe

Persuasion is kinda an ancient notion for the Left nowadays.  It's all Kimmel's world:

Kimmel doesn't matter. He's just another half-smart big mouth Hollywood multi-millionaire. But they're all Kimmel, all the left. They're all doing the Kimmel Three-Step: 1. Emotion. 2. Hectoring. 3. Violence. Trying to get you to give them and their government your money and your freedom.

Well, come and get it, Jimmy.

Some people just want to graduate

Politico: "Protesters disrupt James Comey's Howard University convocation speech."

What a fun day for everyone.

Of course

Federalist: "After Self-Reflection, Journalists Discover They’ve Been Too Critical Of … Democrats."

I understand: you can't fathom that you might have helped elect Trump.  Don't worry, dudes, you're not that important anymore.

Extra - Don Surber: "The whole Russian meddling was a ruse to justify spying on Trump. The mainstream media went along with the gag because they wanted to protect Obama, and they wanted to overturn the election."

Good luck, Andrew Franks

The Miami Dolphins missed their first game of the season because of Hurricane Irma so I didn't find out until this past Sunday that field goal kicker Andrew Franks was let go from the team after two seasons.

The appearance of Andrew Franks was always my favorite part of any NFL game because of the incredulous reaction from the broadcast commentators whenever he appeared on the field.  They would always say something like: "Andrew Franks from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute?!?"

That's right: Franks rose to the NFL from a Division III school sometimes described as the "oldest technological university in the English-speaking world."  The recently-unemployed Franks will now have to fall back on his Bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering.

My offer is this: two bits

This should help settle the selling price for Rolling Stone.  Hot Air: "Appeals Court Revives Lawsuit Against Rolling Stone."



Extra - Hit and Run: "Good luck with the sale, Jann Wenner."

Sounds like a man with something to hide!

Daily Caller: "Manafort Calls On DOJ To Release His Intercepted Communications With Foreigners."

“Mr. Manafort requests that the Department of Justice release any intercepts involving him and any non-Americans so interested parties can come to the same conclusion as the DOJ — there is nothing there,” Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said in a statement.

This whole Russia thing is going to come down to a guy who didn't register as a lobbyist.

The Left hates free speech, continued

Megan McArdle: "We Didn't Normalize Trump. We Normalized the Left's Violence." "Every time it happens, we have to remind ourselves that all this security is the price we’re paying to protect ourselves from thieves who want to steal our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms."

I used to subscribe

NY Times: "Rolling Stone, Once a Counterculture Bible, Will Be Put Up for Sale."

Yes, it's true, I was an avid reader of Rolling Stone when it used to cover....music.

The times, they are a'changin'

Daily Dot: "The struggle against Internet overload is real."

Since the dawn of civilization, roughly 12,000 B.C., to 2003 A.D., only 5 exabytes (5,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes) of data has been created. Now, with the rise of the Internet’s influence in our daily lives, we produce this amount of data every two days.

Holy cow.  It's probably because we went from Mathew Brady taking a dozen pictures a day to a typical teenager taking that many pictures of his/her lunch.  Plus videos!

Garbage time

Hot Air: "A Chicago Judge Amazingly Rules That Grant Money Can Be Mandatory."

Update: This originally sounded to me like Chicago judge-shopping for a favorable ruling but my go-to legal analysis guide says the judge may have a solid legal basis for the executive branch changing standards originally set by Congress.

I don't know, man, I just work here.

You can have anything you want if you don't care about the cost

This morning, Obamacare cheerleader Sarah Kliff wrote this piece on Vox: "Bernie Sanders's new Medicare-for-all plan, explained."  Here's the tl;dr "explanation":

1) It's going to be awesome
2) We have no idea how much it's going to cost

At no point does Kliff mention rationing of health care but at least she mentioned that single-payer crashed and burned in Vermont:

But Vermont’s single-payer dream fell apart when the state figured out how much it would need to raise taxes to finance its new system. Vermont abandoned the government-run plan after finding it would need to increase payroll taxes by 11.5 percent and income tax by 9 percent.

Unmentioned is that Colorado and California also ran screaming from single-payer plans when the price tag was revealed.  Perhaps sensing that she had overreached in her earlier "explanation", Kliff followed up in the afternoon with "How much is that Medicare-for-all plan in the window?"  Oh, good, we're going to find out the cost of Sanders' plan.

Or not:

Sanders certainly offers a wide array of financing options, and you can read through all them right here. What makes them difficult to evaluate, however, is that we don't know how much he expects his single-payer health plan to cost.

What was the point of these articles, Sarah, other than to keep up the drumbeat for a single-payer plan that will never see the light of day and/or fill your article quota at Vox?

Must be chilly in Hell tonight

I have to say: the NY Times published this?  Hot Air: "NY Times Author Defends Ben Shapiro, Attacks ‘Sloppy Conflation’ Of Conservatives With White Supremacists."

Well, it was an opinion page piece.  The editorials are safely in the hands of James "What's Google?" Bennet.

Humorless scolds

Hot Air: "John Cleese: ‘A Lot Of The Politically Correct People Have No Sense Of Humor’."

I don't want to talk about Hillary

So I won't.

Nine-eleven

Discovered de Kooning in New Mexico

This is the craziest story.  In 1985 a Willem de Kooning painting was stolen from the University of Arizona and later found in an antiques store.  The investigation has come to this: it looks like it was robbed by a regular Joe who just wanted to hang it over his fireplace.

It was finally recovered last month, and investigators are focusing on several theories. And one of them is, in its own way, extraordinary: They are trying to determine if the heist was engineered by a retired New York City schoolteacher — something of a renaissance man — who donned women’s clothing and took his son along as his accomplice, and then hung the masterwork in the bedroom of his own rural New Mexico home, where it remained.

In other words, they are examining whether he stole a painting now valued at in excess of $100 million simply so he could enjoy it.

This reminds me of another nutty art story where a friend of Norman Rockwell was afraid he would lose his original painting in a divorce, so he painted a copy and hid the original.  

College-freude

Legal Insurrection: "Radical fallout: Oberlin College enrollment drops, causing financial problems - Is social justice war coming home to roost at Oberlin, as it did at Mizzou and Evergreen State?"

Journalism

Don Surber: "Anatomy of a sleazy editorial."  It's the ole Russian guilt-by-association drivel.

Al Gore was right!

2006: "Hurricanes are going to be worse and more frequent!"
2007:
2008:
2009:
2010:
2011:
2012:
2013:
2014:
2015:
2016:
2017: "Told you so!" https://t.co/aQ31Qsseo3

— Deplorable Locutor (@Elocutioner) September 9, 2017

NY Times, again

Here's John Bolton writing in the National Review: "What ‘News Gathering’ Looks Like at the New York Times."  "The questions, perhaps in response to an article I wrote on the North Korean threat, are utterly one-sided, simplistic, incorporate factually incorrect assertions, and signal that the story is all but written. There is clearly no basis to try to engage such a “reporter” in reasoned dialogue."

The case against Bob Menendez

The New York Times forgot the Senator's political affiliation and NBC News just assumed he was a Republican because, you know, "layers of fact-checking" in the age of Google.

Anyway, Ace has the lowdown on that Son of the Confederacy and his love for #MAGA hats: "MSNBC Has Some Unwelcome News for Its Zombie Viewers: Case Against Senator Bob Menendez (Republican from Texas or Somewhere "Jesusy") Is "Overwhelming"."

Hold on to your hat

You're not going to believe this story: it seems that a mainstream media news source went forward with a story damaging to a Republican without proper sourcing.  I know!  Daily Caller: "CNN Pulled Investigative Team Off Trump-Russia Coverage."  "The error was also particularly damaging to CNN’s brand as it occurred as Trump was harshly criticizing the network over charges of biased coverage."

Then there's the other side of the coin: for the first time in 36 years, a sitting U.S. Senator is in the midst of a federal bribery trial.  Political affiliation of this corrupt official: unknown.  The Hill: "NY Times mocked for not mentioning embattled senator is a Democrat."

The "Paper of Record".

Run, Deval, run

The Hill: "Obama team’s 2020 signals spark chatter among Dems."

Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama’s closest confidantes, and David Simas, the CEO of Obama’s foundation, have sent smoke signals urging former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) to enter the race.

Do it, Deval.  There's two things I know about politics:

1.) President Dukakis, Kerry, and Romney prove that America loves politicians from Massachusetts.

2.) Americans can't get enough of identity politics.  Bring on Kamala, too.

Side note: I love how the Hill included the (D) in this story so you weren't confused about the political affiliation of an Obama-endorsed candidate from Massachusetts.

Deplorable sees the light

The Onion: "Former Conservative Recalls Belittling Tirade From College Student That Brought Him Over To Left."

My favorite Supremes song

Approaching peak Harrison Bergeron

"The year was 2081 2017 and everybody was finally equal."  City Journal: "Peril in numbers - Affirmative-action hiring endangers the FDNY."  The New York Fire Department needs women because of triggering or something:

The results of all this quota-setting and bean-counting were predictable. FDNY insiders say that the department struggles to fill the minority quotas despite degraded hiring standards. Hence Paul Washington dissembles to potential recruits. Hence standards for women have grown so lax under Sifton’s dictum that one female recruit failed entrance exams six times and was hired anyway. Hence nine felons—each a beneficiary of Garafulis’s quotas—graduated in a class of probationary firefighters from the city’s fire academy last November.

The era of Un-hurt Feelings: coming soon to a courtroom and surgical theater near you.

Extra - "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut.

Don't give to the Red Cross

That's the gist of this series of tweets from Pro Publica.  I scrolled through some of their feed and, boy, they do not like the Red Cross.

I vaguely remembered that the Red Cross was accused of driving trucks around in circles after Hurricane Sandy just for visibility purposes.  Found that story.

The NY Times wins!

Hit and Run: "Decision Dismissing Sarah Palin's Libel Suit Is an Embarrassment to the Times - The ruling shows how carelessly the paper peddled nonsense about Republican rhetoric and mass murder."

Although it seems correct as a matter of law, the decision should not be interpreted as a vindication of the Times. To the contrary, the details described in U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff's ruling highlight the journalistic malpractice, magical thinking, and blinkered tribalism that led to this stupid and embarrassing mistake.

As far as I can tell, the judge's ruling was that because the Times said "oopsie!" relatively quickly, there wasn't actual malice.  One can't help to wonder if the subject of attack had been a non-Republican, the editorial staff would have taken an extra 30 seconds to consult Google.

Related - The Newseum is going under.  Good.

Virtue signaling is a hell of a drug

Hot Air: "‘Free Speech Comedy Show’ Canceled After Venue’s Locks Smashed."

Et, tu, Canada?  Land of tolerance and apology?

I've heard this song before

Legal Insurrection: "Obamacare Causes New York’s Largest Hospital Network to Leave Insurance Market" - “It has become increasingly clear that continuing the CareConnect health plan is financially unsustainable.”

Nothingburger on stilts

Is collusion with Russia back in vogue already?  The NY Times, naturally, spilled a thousand useless words to tell us everything that Trump didn't do: "Democrats' Russia story hits another dead end."  "A Russian immigrant who didn’t work for Trump had a vision of making Donald Trump look good (and making himself a lot of money) via a business deal with the Russians, which Trump’s people never followed up on. It’s like a joke with no punch line."

If it's a day ending in a "y", time to fire someone

Hot Air: "Report: Trump “Livid” With Gary Cohn, Rex Tillerson."

I never thought Rex Tillerson would last very long: as the former CEO of Exxon, this captain of industry is the very epitome of discipline and goal-oriented management.  His boss, not so much.  Tillerson won't stick around to be insulted by the likes of Trump for a six-figure salary.

Shut up, they explained. Part 1002 - Boston Bugaloo

Andrew Sullivan wrote this: "The Boston Rally Exposed the Left’s Intolerance of Free Speech."  "If their intent was to prove how parts of the left and Boston’s mayor and police department now oppose freedom of speech if they disagree with it, well, they succeeded beyond their wildest imagination."

Let's all be victims!

Hot Air: "Is ‘Identity Liberalism’ Killing The Democratic Party?"  I might have to get Mark Lilla's book.

Newspaper defends First Amendment

Hot Air: "After Months Of Op-Eds Questioning Free Speech, NY Times Publishes A Solid Defense."

Note that this wasn't on the famously dumb editorial page, but in the Book Review.

Western Massachusetts update

The winner of the three-quarters of a billion dollar Powerball jackpot bought her ticket in Chicopee, which is two towns over from me.  So close...so close.

Good for her but, man, she came out to claim her prize awfully quick, clearly before talking to a lawyer, a financial adviser, or security specialists.

You know what you did!

Free Beacon: "USC’s Mascot Criticized for Having Name Similar to Robert E. Lee’s Horse."

Shut up, they explained - Part: I lost count

This gem appeared in the Washington "Democracy Dies in Darkness" Post.  The author is a kook professor from Skidmore College: "When ‘free speech’ becomes a political weapon - Maybe liberals shouldn't be free-speech absolutists after all."

Why does this urge to stifle First Amendment rights always - always - come from the Left?  The easy answer is that they suck at debating so they want to shut down conversation.  I think another explanation is that it's a cheap way to assert power among those who have none.  All you need to do is be offended and now you can claim the power of censorship, like a real dictator.

Extra - From Ace.

More - And Twitchy.  "Democracy dies from dumbasses."

Big fat phony Joss Whedon

I dislike Joss Whedon who wasted no time after Trump's election crying or throwing a hissy-fit or whatever un-masculine kind of action verb you'd like to use.  At the time he was upset about Betsy DeVos who was "declaring a war on children."  Well, not Joss Whedon's children who are safely cloistered in private school.

Imagine my delight that the super-feminist told his now-ex-wife that, gosh darn it, he loves women so much he just couldn't help but have a bunch of affairs.  Ace: "Shock: Superfeminist Walking Pussyhat Joss Whedon Was Cheating on His Wife With Adoring Female Fans, Ex-Wife Says in Blogpost."

Don't worry folks: at least his private jet runs on the green energy of refined condescension.

Boston today

I really like this sign:

Hat tip: This Reddit thread.

Never let a crisis go to waste

Writing in the NY Times (naturally) a UCLA professor says it's time for the government to put some curbs on free speech.  Charles C.W. Cooke agrees: "Yes, let's rethink free speech."

The United States did not fight two global conflicts and a bloody civil war to permit the Bill of Rights to flourish. Nor did countless Americans expend their time, blood, and energy to allow unpopular people to speak without the vigorous superintendence of whoever temporarily commands the public’s support. On the contrary: Those battles were fought for one reason, and one reason only: To permit Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump to shape our society as they in their eternal prudence see fit. If that dream is finally to be realized, the ACLU must dismount its high horse and get the hell out of the way.

Emphasis added.  I'm sold on this argument: since Republicans control all levels of the government, it's time to put some constraints on this harmful rhetoric of the Left.  For the public good.

Triggered in NYC

Shot: "How To Know You’re In a Mass Hysteria Bubble."

Chaser: "MTA will remake tiles that look like Confederate flags in station."

So much for those cooler heads

It's come to this: "John Henry says Red Sox will lead effort to change name of Yawkey Way."  Because he was a big racist.

Let's not stop there, though: "Rename Faneuil Hall? That's the request of one Boston coalition."

Can cooler heads prevail in Boston?

Hot Air: "Boston Approves Permit For ‘Free Speech’ Rally."  Here's what the organizers said on their Facebook page:

While we maintain that every individual is entitled to their freedom of speech and defend that basic human right, we will not be offering our platform to racism or bigotry. We denounce the politics of supremacy and violence. We denounce the actions, activities, and tactics of the so-called Antifa movement. We denounce the normalization of political violence…

We are a coalition of libertarians, progressives, conservatives, and independents and we welcome all individuals and organizations from any political affiliations that are willing to peaceably engage in open dialogue about the threats to, and importance of, free speech and civil liberties.

Boston mayor Marty Walsh had been trying to block the rally but now he's appealing for calm and reason.  Maybe we can talk to each other instead of yelling past each other.

Save free expression

Katherine Mangu-Ward on Hit and Run: "'No Free Speech for Fascists' Is a Truly Terrible Idea - The ACLU is right: Do you really want Donald Trump deciding who gets free speech?"  Don't cut down the forest to get to the Devil.

It's an explanation of sorts

John Podhoretz: "Explaining Trump's Charlottesville behavior."

There's a scene in Annie Hall where Alvy Singer is recalling his elementary school classmates and one Ivan Ackerman: "Always the wrong answer...always."  That's how I feel every time Trump says or tweets something: it's always wrong or at least tone-deaf then you smack yourself in the head in frustration and disbelief.

Identity politics killed the Left

I think I know a Columbia humanities professor who is going to be shunned at the next faculty mixer.  In this great article in the Wall Street Journal, Mark Lilia explains how liberals have lost a sense of common cause: "The Liberal Crackup - Liberals should reject the divisive, zero-sum politics of identity and find their way back to a unifying vision of the common good."

As a teacher, I am increasingly struck by a difference between my conservative and progressive students. Contrary to the stereotype, the conservatives are far more likely to connect their engagements to a set of political ideas and principles. Young people on the left are much more inclined to say that they are engaged in politics as an X, concerned about other Xs and those issues touching on X-ness. And they are less and less comfortable with debate.

What does this bifurcation and compartmentalization mean for the political Left?  There is no call to collective action:

Every advance of liberal identity consciousness has marked a retreat of liberal political consciousness. There can be no liberal politics without a sense of We—of what we are as citizens and what we owe each other. If liberals hope ever to recapture America’s imagination and become a dominant force across the country, it will not be enough to beat the Republicans at flattering the vanity of the mythical Joe Sixpack. They must offer a vision of our common destiny based on one thing that all Americans, of every background, share.

Wrapping up, Professor Lilia writes: "Black Lives Matter is a textbook example of how not to build solidarity."  Uh-oh.

This is so sweet, so very sweet

Via Twitchy:

The New York Times is claiming the Palin case should be dismissed because it is unreasonable to assume the Editors read the New York Times. https://t.co/QyuRd9HFmd

— Lee Doren (@LDoren) August 10, 2017

"Bill shared these great tips to help my backswing"

Washington Free Beacon: "Justice Officials Sent Talking Points to FBI on Lynch Tarmac Meeting With Bill Clinton - Flurry of emails between Justice, FBI and White House came just days before Comey cleared Hillary Clinton in email scandal."

The golf tips were heavily redacted, of course.

A founding member of OPEC

Even with depressed oil prices, how can an oil-rich country go flat broke?  It ran out of other people's money.

The Paper of Record

WashPost: "New York Times guilty of large screw-up on climate-change story."  "That correction, which sits at the foot of the story, dutifully straightens out the record. Yet given the magnitude of the screw-up, it should sit atop the story, surrounded by red flashing lights and perhaps an audio track to instruct readers: Warning: This story once peddled a faulty and damaging premise."

You'll be surprised to learn that the premise the New York Times promoted just happened to fit the narrative that Trump's Administration was suppressing information on climate change.

Because everything is political now

Want to watch a football game?  Tough nuts.  Hot Air: "Skip Bayless: If Black NFL Players Sat Out Week One To Protest Colin Kaepernick’s Treatment, It Would Really Have An Impact."

Do it.  It worked out gangbusters for the University of Missouri.

Doubleplusungoodthoughtcrime

Ace: "Evil Monopoly Google Fires Engineer for Questioning Monopoly's Ideological Conformity."

Google: "We support diversity here!"
Rogue employee: "I have a contrary thought."
Google: "Not ideological diversity.  Pack your stuff, Hitler."