Monday, December 31, 2018

Knock me over with a little feather

Legal Insurrection: "Elizabeth Warren announces she’s running for President" - "If elected, she would be the first person who has committed an ethnic fraud to hold the presidency."

When it was advantageous for Warren to be a Republican, she was a Republican.
When it was advantageous for Warren to be a "minority," she was a minority.
When it was advantageous for Warren to be a Massachusetts liberal, she was a Massachusetts liberal.

Warren 2020: "What principles do you want?  I got 'em."  Bookmark: ElizabethWarrenWiki.

Sunday, December 30, 2018

Shut up, they explained

Newsbusters: "Chuck Todd Bans 'Climate Deniers' from Climate Change Special."
Quick: someone check—are we still in the USA? Or did "democracy die in darkness" and certain positions are verboten from public speech?

And now that Todd has a taste for banning dissent from liberal orthodoxy, the possibilities are endless!
I've never understood this: if you're so secure in your position, why not invite one of those crazies onto your show and crush him in front of a national audience?  Liberals love the echo chamber and they hate free speech.

Extra - From Instapundit.


Saturday, December 29, 2018

A conspiracy so deep

Spectator: "The Prague delusion"
Many months ago, when Michael Cohen first came to the attention of CNN, Bill Kristol, and other acolytes in the anti-Trump sorority, a rumor was floated that he had been in Prague in 2016 and had spoken to unnamed but highly placed ‘Russians’ either to hand over the US government to Vladimir Putin or to assure Putin’s connivance in making Donald Trump President.

A notable flaw in this theory was that Michael Cohen had never visited Prague, not then, not ever.

If you think that is a disabling flaw, however, you do not appreciate the robust goad to invention that hysteria provides. That fact that Michael Cohen has been shown not to have been in Prague is merely a fact. What is that against the ardent heart’s desire to Get Trump and cancel the effects of the 2016 election?
But it must be true because they fervently want it to be, just like the Kavanaugh allegations.

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Cohen was in Prague!

So say four anonymous sources, quoting other anonymous sources, with no corroboration.  Legal Insurrection: "More “Russia Collusion” Media PSYOPs – McClatchy cell-phone ping report on Michael Cohen in Prague" - "Claims based on what unnamed people heard from unnamed people, none of whom are shown to have personal knowledge. This is the epitome of Trump collusion reporting."

No kidding.  A couple weeks back, there was a story on NPR (some lawyer named Ackerman Akerman) and, when pushed for the "meat of the allegation" against Trump, insisted that Michael Cohen met with Russians in Prague to set up some kind of quid pro quo.  Maybe they were running long on time but the interviewer abruptly ended the interview on what was an unproven meeting that has been vehemently denied by both Cohen and his lawyer, both before and after his cooperation with Robert Mueller.  Then people wonder why the media can't be trusted.

Extra - Found it:
SHAPIRO: There are a lot of different names and dates here. But to zero in on what if any criminal offense might have been committed by Donald Trump, what is the meat of the case against him here?
AKERMAN: The meat of the case is he sent his private lawyer to Prague. He was involved in taking and working through the Russians, straight from the time of the Trump Tower meeting, the June 4 email to Don Jr., to using, in effect, the stolen documents and emails from the Democratic National Committee to get himself elected.
Again: pure fiction, denied by everybody and NPR interviewer Ari Shapiro should have known this.  Cohen has/had a deal with Robert Mueller and it included telling the truth about his dealings with the Russians.  He has no incentive to lie to Mueller and cover up for Trump.  Yet - even today - he denies ever being in the Czech Republic.

To coin a phrase, it's fake news.

More - Minuteman: "Prague Summer yet again."

Going under

Hot Air: "A Stunner: National Debt Interest Will Soon Exceed National Defense Spending."
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the interest payments will surpass Medicaid costs within 18 months and that they will exceed all national defense spending by 2023.

By 2025, the CBO figures interest costs will surge past the combined totals of all non-defense discretionary programs together, including funding for national parks, scientific research, health care, education, the court system and infrastructure.

Between now and 2023 nearly three-quarters of the federal debt will mature and must be refinanced at whatever the presumably higher interest rates are in effect then.
As the federal budget transitions into auto-pilot spending, mandatory budget obligations will force out discretionary spending, the things we call the "government."  Who's going to care if the government shuts down when there's one forest ranger left?

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

"Journalism"

Extra - From Instapundit.

Flynn-flam

Victor Davis Hanson: "The never-ending, mysterious saga of Michael Flynn." "Michael Flynn is often cited as the Mueller’s investigation “big fish,” the sole high-ranking Trump Administration official so far to be indicted. He may well have been arrogant, and made money in the usual creepy Washington swampish way. But he certainly would not be facing criminal liability had the Justice Department and FBI not first targeted him as guilty of something, and then searched desperately to find or construct that something."

Monday, December 24, 2018

Saturday, December 22, 2018

LOL: "I raise awareness on Facebook!"

Brinkmanship and bungling

Politico: "Inside the frantic negotiations that failed to avert a shutdown."
Lawmakers and aides in both parties are cautiously optimistic that the shutdown will be short, believing there’s an emerging consensus around a package of seven annual spending bills, including $1.6 billion in money for fencing. Everyone seems to realize that Trump’s dream of $5 billion for concrete wall funding is dead, including Trump himself. But nobody seems quite sure of what, exactly, Trump will sign after this week’s frenzied back and forth.
These shutdowns drive me crazy because Congress, fundamentally, has one job: fund the government.  I'd like to channel Bill Belichick and say "do your job."  This showdown could have been hashed out months ago before it got to the point where Congresspersons will have to fly back to Washington on Christmas Eve to get furloughed federal employees back to work.

How can we miss you if you won't go away?

Rich Lowry: "The Insufferable James Comey."  "None of Trump’s attacks on Comey has been as damning as the supposedly by-the-book FBI director admitting he did an end run around process in the Flynn interview, and soaking up laughter and applause for it."

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Mattis: Take this Syria policy and shove it

Pretty wild day as Secretary of Defense James Mattis hands in his resignation and makes it pretty clear it's due to Trump's capricious decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.  As the Atlantic put it: "Trump Just Messed Up the One Thing He Did Better Than Obama."

According to NPR this evening, this was the first Secretary to publicly resign over a policy dispute since Cyrus Vance.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Another state with pension problems

Hit and Run: "Kentucky Launches Special Session to Deal With State's Public Pension Crisis."
This is a completely unsustainable course... If the state's teacher pension system earns only 3.8 percent annually instead of the 6 percent returns that are baked into the plan's assumptions, it will be out of money by the mid-2030s.

In other words, a new college grad hired as a teacher in a Kentucky public school is being told to trust a retirement program that will likely implode before he or she turns 40. Seems like a big leap of faith.
The mid-2030s are going to be tough all over for retirement plans:
Considered separately, the DI Trust Fund reserves become depleted in 2032 and the OASI Trust Fund reserves become depleted in 2034. In last year’s report, the projected reserve depletion years were 2028 for DI and 2035 for OASI.
It seems cruel to tell people their money will be there, when it won't.

Saturday, December 15, 2018

NPR prepares its listeners for disappointment

NPR: "The Russia Investigations: An Unfinished Case Looks Weaker Than Ever."

The Left hates free speech, continued

Victory Girls: "In a rare and somewhat frightening bout of honesty, California Democrat Ted Lieu made two stunning (or maybe not) admissions on the air recently 1) that he would love to control speech and 2) the only thing stopping him from doing so is that danged US Constitution."

Friday, December 14, 2018

Have yourself a completely appropriate Christmas

Only if you're totally comfortable with that.

Well, this video won't embed.  Here's a link: "Baby just go outside."

So that DNA test was a great idea

White woman Liz Warren knows her claims of 1/1024 Indian heritage have resulted in ridicule.  So now it's time to come clean: "Elizabeth Warren finally admits she’s “not a person of color” (despite being touted as one for 25 yrs)."

She's totally going to put this behind her and grab the attention of the Democratic Party: "2020 Democratic Primary Poll: Elizabeth Warren Now Trails, Uh, John Kerry."  Or not.

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Get Trumpy!

The former chairman of the Federal Election Commission says: "Michael Cohen Pled Guilty to Something That Is Not a Crime."  In significant detail, he notes the campaign finance "violation" that Cohen said he was guilty of has no standing in the law.

I noted that Cohen was forced to pay a $1 million fine.  The guy is worth $20 million after a lifetime of tax evasion and taxi cabs.  To hold on to the 95% of his fortune, I would bet he would sign off on whatever the SDNY asked.

Extra - Alan Dershowitz and Dan Backer have pretty much said the same thing.

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

The dreamy Democrat

Atlantic: "The Medical Ordeals of JFK" - "The core of the Kennedy image was, in many respects, a lie. A presidential biographer, granted access to medical files, portrays a man far sicker than the public knew."

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Terror in Strasbourg

I've been to Alsace which is just a beautiful region of France, right on the German border.  Strasbourg is a wonderful city and they love Americans there because during World War II they liberated the city.  It was weird to see scenes on the news tonight of places I readily recognized.

Monday, December 10, 2018

California recognizes the pension threat

The San Francisco Chronicle (!) says maybe we should reform public pensions: "California’s golden pension rights need fixing."
Between the lines, [Governor Jerry] Brown is offering a different thought: You can’t promise money that isn’t there. The California’s public pension pool is tens of billions short of being fully funded, with cities feeling the same pinch. Pension promises made with the best intentions or from political loyalty may prove impossible to deliver.
This is a compliant I've made constantly about Social Security in that it has overpromised benefits it cannot possibly pay and obscuring that fact will lead to a cruel conclusion for retirees.

Sunday, December 09, 2018

The ending of that Patriots-Dolphins game

Hush hush

Andrew McCarthy: "Why Trump is likely to be indicted by Manhattan US Attorney."

This is concerning the "campaign finance violation" of perfectly-legal non-disclosure agreements and allegations settled with a fine to the FEC, if you're a Democrat.  But if payouts are now illegal, we can start prosecuting Congressmen who have been paying out victims from the secret slush fund, since this clearly represents an in-kind campaign contribution.

Extra - Journalism, via Instapundit.

Friday, December 07, 2018

The Cohen fallout, part 2

David French on the Corner: "The Special Counsel’s Cohen Sentencing Brief Is Ominous for Trump."

It seems that we're circling back to an obstruction of justice charge because Trump either actively sanctioned Cohen's false testimony to Congress or did nothing to correct the record afterwards.

OMG you guys I was JK

Man, she's dim.  Hot Air: "Ocasio-Cortez To Trump Jr: Keep Trolling Me On Twitter And You Might Get Subpoenaed."

Twitchy: "Uh-oh! Looks like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be in BIG trouble with the House Ethics Committee."

Scratch a liberal and find a dumb tyrant.

Thursday, December 06, 2018

She'll never apologize

Ace: "NYT: Elizabeth Warren Stands By Her DNA Test. But Everyone Else Think She's an Stupid Old Prune-Idiot Sourcrotch."  He then quips: "Not fully the original headline."

To quote Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose: it's too late to turn back now.  Warren went all-in on her 1/1024 heritage and it's impossible for her to backtrack and hand Trump a yuuuge victory.

Extra - From Legal Insurrection.

Tuesday, December 04, 2018

Speaking of those super-smart Dems

Daily Caller: "Hirono says Dems can't connect to voters because they're too smart."  Plus they're busy clinging to their guns and religion.

Here's P.J. O'Rourke:
I wonder how many of the people who profess to believe in the leveling ideas of collectivism and egalitarianism really just believe that they themselves are good for nothing. I mean, how many leftists are animated by a quite reasonable self-loathing? In their hearts they know that they are not going to become scholars or inventors or industrialists or even ordinary good kind people. So they need a way to achieve that smugness for which the left is so justifiably famous. They need a way to achieve self-esteem without merit. Well, there is politics. In an egalitarian world everything will be controlled by politics, and politics requires no merit.
Let's throw in this C.S. Lewis quote for good measure:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono famously said that men should just "shut up" when it comes to allegations of sexual assault.  Interesting that super-smart people always want to prevent other people from speaking.

Why is everybody picking on AOC?

Oh, yeah, she's an idiot.  Hot Air: "WaPo: Four Pinocchios To Kickstart AOC’s Congressional Career."  Not even sworn in yet.

Extra - Twitchy: "People are wondering why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn’t getting the Dan Quayle treatment."

Monday, December 03, 2018

Is it over yet?

The Week: "The crisis Mueller is sowing"
At this point the most obvious fair-minded explanation of the Russia investigation is that it exists to paralyze the Trump administration. It certainly monopolizes the president's attention. When he is abroad he broods over the latest media talking points from his suite. When he is in Washington, he fumes in front of the television and tweets his favorite tidbits from Fox News. The special counsel has taken his attention away from diplomacy and the other ordinary business of the presidency. Mueller has failed to deliver the goods not simply because there are no goods to deliver but because delivering them is not the point. The point is to hurt Trump.
I try to be fair-minded about the Mueller investigation but my conclusion is that the whole thing had its genesis in the fruit of the poisoned tree, namely the phony Steele dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign.  (This was the actual collusion with Russians to collect dirt on a Presidential candidate.)  And here we are two years later with indictments handed down for process crimes of lying to the FBI or evading taxes from a decade ago.

Every article I read is some variation of "look at all this smoke!  There must be fire somewhere."  At least Watergate started with a break-in and Benghazi had four dead guys.  The big "crime" here is that Hillary lost.

How to tweet like Alexandria

Twitchy: "‘Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah’: Thread on how to tweet JUST like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez WINS Twitter."

I've been trying to stay away from that low-hanging fruit, but she makes it just too easy.