NICK GILLESPIE: This One Picture of Telly Savalas Refutes All Fears That Progress Has Ended. Not sure I’m buying this analysis. . . .
Archive for 2014
October 30, 2014
JUST GET THEM VOTING REPUBLICAN AND THE PRESS WILL BE TELLING US HOW THIS TRAVESTY MUST BE STOPPED RIGHT AWAY! John Fund: Non-Citizens Are Voting: James O’Keefe documents the problem in North Carolina, where the Senate race is close. “O’Keefe had a Brazilian-born immigrant investigator of his pose as someone who wanted to vote but was not a citizen. Greg Amick, the campaign manager for the Democrat running for sheriff in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte), was only too happy to help. . . . It’s no wonder that the two Old Dominion professors concluded that non-citizen votes may have been responsible for Obama’s 2008 victory in North Carolina.”
WORLD-CLASS TROLLING: Free Beacon Election Forecast: 51.7% Chance Obama Resigns After the Midterms.
BETTER IDEA: GET NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND SHARE THEM WITH THE POLES. Nervous Swedes Eye NATO Membership.
Russia’s repeated little “visits” with subs and planes might finally be enough for famously neutral Sweden. For the first time, an opinion poll has found that the majority of respondents want to join the NATO alliance. . . .
Sweden’s new center-left government came into office having made anti-NATO pledges, but the conversation seems to have shifted significantly since then. Not only have the Russians been (supposedly) poking around in Swedish waters; they’ve also entered Swedish airspace. As a similar incident over Estonia makes clear, the Russians are testing how much leeway they have in the Baltic after an easy win in Ukraine—but it appears they are finally getting some pushback. . . .
But even if Sweden did join NATO, its military weakness would leave it vulnerable. Meanwhile, NATO’s European members are historically weak, even on paper, and even more so in the field. And above all, American posturing and retreat over the Ukraine crisis has called into question the alliance’s ability to deter Putin from further aggression in the Baltics.
It’s good to see some of the Europeans start taking this threat seriously. But Putin is bringing hard-power realities back to the fore, and should not be underestimated.
For two more years, at least, NATO probably won’t do much.
AMAZING WHAT HAPPENS WITHOUT THE INFLUENCE OF THE NATIONAL MEDIA: Election could tip historic number of legislatures into Republican hands.
TO OIKOPHOBIC LEFTIES, THAT’S NOT A BUG, IT’S A FEATURE: Why Middle-Class Americans Can’t Afford to Live in Liberal Cities.
EVERYTHING SEEMINGLY IS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL: NATO says Russian jets, bombers circle Europe in unusual incidents.
CDC: Well, yes, actually droplets from a sneeze could spread Ebola. “Dr. Rossi Hassad, a professor of epidemiology at Mercy College, said droplets could remain active for up to a day.”
UPDATE: Ebola outbreak: Nurse Kaci Hickox defies quarantine.
Related: Ebola In Texas: Austin Nurse Self-Quarantines After Returning From West Africa.
TO BE FAIR, WARREN’S FROM MASSACHUSETTS, WHICH IS NOWHERE NEAR EITHER VERMONT OR NEW HAMPSHIRE: Elizabeth Warren: Jeanne Shaheen “out there working for the people of Vermont.”
ASHE SCHOW: Insight into how campus sexual assault panels are being ‘trained.’
Much of the focus on campus sexual assault has been on who should handle allegations. Those pushing the idea that the problem is widespread on colleges have demanded training for campus administrators.
If the Obama administration and proponents of certain bills claiming to end or reduce campus sexual assault get their way, the question will then become: “How will campus administrators be trained?”
This is something that should be just as frightening as “yes means yes” laws, or any other bill that doesn’t include due process rights for the accused, because the people being trained to adjudicate charges are not being taught objectivity.
K.C. Johnson — co-author of a book about the Duke Lacrosse rape case — recently discovered a guide for training college administrators in how to handle complaints of sexual assault. The guide was developed in 2012 by women at the University of Pennsylvania — the university’s general counsel, the director of the Office of Student Conduct and a consultant. The document also specifically thanks the input of the university’s Women’s Center.
The guide is meant to be copied and pasted for other schools to use when “training” members of student discipline panels. It flat out says to just replace certain portions of text with information relevant to the school.
The guide includes 17 “tips” for adjudicators. As Johnson notes, ten of these are neutral, but six seem to pressure panelists to vote guilty. The remaining “tip” could be read either way.
Of course, the very first tip is a restatement of the myth that one in five women will experience sexual assault during college.
The most harmful tip, though, is the one claiming that “False allegations of rape are not common.” The source for this claim comes from clinical psychologist David Lisak, who found that over a ten-year period, 5.9 percent of cases at “a major Northeastern university” were deemed to be false allegations. The UPenn guide also notes that “Other reputable research places the rate in the general population between 2% and 10%.”
A 1 in 10 chance of a false accusation is actually large enough that it should give panel members pause, but this guide frames false accusations as a “myth.”
Kangaroo courts. Why would anyone send a kid — especially a son — to institutions that would do this? Would you send a black kid to institutions with disciplinary manuals written by the KKK?
TEACH WOMEN NOT TO LIE ABOUT RAPE! (CONT’D): Video: New Mexico Officer Cleared of Sexual Assault by Body Camera. “Arrested for drunk driving, an Albuquerque woman tried to flip the script on an Albuquerque Police officer, accusing him of sexual assault. Cops say when 23-year-old Deanna Griego was placed under arrest for DWI she tried to hatch a false sexual assault accusation against the cop who arrested her. The officer was wearing a lapel cam and the video contradicted her claims.”
Plus: “Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Tanner Tixier told TheBlaze on Monday evening that police were not pursuing additional charges against Griego because, despite the apparent falsehood of her sexual assault claim, police did not want to set a precedent that could discourage other potential victims of sexual assault from coming forward.”
Don’t we want to discourage liars from lying?
ASSOCIATED PRESS: If Ebola batters US, we are not ready. Do tell.
ROLL CALL: Democrats Losing Youth Vote: Millennials Turning to the GOP.
Democrats have lost ground with millennials compared to past election cycles — a development that suggests the country’s youngest voters are open to both parties, according to a new Harvard Institute of Politics poll.
The nationwide poll of more than 2,000 adults ages 18 to 29, conducted Sept. 26 to Oct. 9, found significant political divisions across racial lines, no significant gender gap in the age group, and a slight Republican advantage among definite voters going into the 2014 midterm election.
“A lesson here, for us, is that young people, millennials, are no longer the political outliers that they once were,” said John Della Volpe, the Harvard Institute of Politics polling director, on a conference call with reporters. “In contrast to where we were four years ago, the youth vote is very much up for grabs politically.”
The 2014 poll shows that 51 percent of millennials considered most likely to vote would rather see a Republican Congress — 4 points higher than those who prefer Democrats. That’s a 16-point jump from 2010, when that group preferred Democrats by 12 percent.
Millennials “could be a critical swing vote in races across the country,” said Maggie Williams, the Harvard IOP director. “The message is clear: Ignore millennial voters at your peril.”
Della Volpe said the shift is indicative of enthusiasm levels this cycle for young Republican voters vs. Democrat voters. Those who voted for Romney in 2012 are more likely to participate this November, he said.
Even a flatworm is smart enough to turn away from pain. And since Obama was elected in 2008 — and, really, since Dems took over Congress in 2006 — there has been a lot of pain for millennials.
TRAIN WRECK UPDATE: Death spiral? Short-term health plans grow as cheap alternative to ObamaCare.
THE HILL: Top Dem ‘shocked’ by ‘chickens—‘ remark.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, hit the Obama administration on Wednesday over an official calling the Israeli prime minister a “chickenshit.”
“I was shocked and disappointed on reading the comments in The Atlantic,” Engel said in a statement. “I call upon the Administration to reassert the importance of the relationship between the United States and Israel, and to reaffirm that the bonds between our two countries are unbreakable.
“I realize that two allies, such as the United States and Israel, are not going to agree on everything, but I think it is counterproductive and unprofessional for Administration officials to air their dirty laundry in such a public way,” he added. “I am getting tired of hearing about the leaks and denials. This ought to be the last time we hear of such talk because it is getting to a point where nobody believes the denials anymore.”
Engel is responding to an article in The Atlantic detailing the Obama administration’s frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The article quotes a senior Obama administration official as calling Netanyahu a “chickenshit.”
The statement from Engel, known as a strong supporter of Israel, adds a Democratic voice to Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) criticism of the comments.
Just more “smart diplomacy” from our JV administration.
INCISIVE ANALYSIS FROM THE KEEN MINDS AT THE NEW YORK TIMES: If You Vote Republican Next Week, You’re A Bumpkin.
Well, okay then. “Now that you’ve been insulted by the vaunted NYT, all you shambling dimwits in that terrifying wasteland between LA and NYC, I trust you’ll think twice about your vote. . . . You wouldn’t want to draw the contempt of the Paper of Record, would you? You wouldn’t want them to think you’re not one of them, right? Be sophisticated. Be smug. Vote Democrat.”
October 29, 2014
IT’S PROBABLY WITH LOIS LERNER’S EMAILS: Poof: Casino ethics complaint against Reid disappears. “Nobody is saying ‘cover-up’ just yet, but an ethics complaint against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid received by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics nearly a year ago has mysteriously disappeared, and the panel claims it never received it despite a signed receipt.”
WISCONSIN: Mary Burke’s Old Boss: “To say it bluntly, she was fired.” From the family business, for heavy-handed incompetence.
DAVID BERNSTEIN EXPLAINS OBAMA’S “CHICKENSHIT” PROBLEMS. “The Obama Administration came in to office thinking it could either force Netanyahu to make concessions, or force his government to fall. . . . Instead, Netanyahu has managed to stay his own course, and still is in no danger of losing his parliamentary majority. Hence administration frustration and ‘chickenshit.'”
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Also, take 30% off Jewelry.
MORE CRUSHING OF DISSENT: Secret Service Agents Pay a Visit to Anti-Obama Artist Sabo — and the Entire Exchange Is Seemingly Captured on Video. Sabo, however, seems un-cowed:
“I realize we have a f***head in the White House and the Constitution no longer means s**t, but as far as I’m concerned we still have the First Amendment, correct?” he said, sitting behind a desk featuring Obama’s face painted on toilet seat covers.
Yes, we do. And some people are pretty unhappy about that.