ED DRISCOLL: Apocalypse Newark.
Archive for 2015
March 10, 2015
ASHE SCHOW: Hillary Clinton tries to reverse history and be seen as women’s champion.
It took awhile, but it appears people are coming around to the fact that even though Hillary Clinton is trying to position herself as a defender of women’s rights, she really is no champion.
Two weeks ago, Hillary revealed that her presumed 2016 presidential campaign would be based on the fact that she is a woman. Almost no one seemed to notice.
Now, after three weeks of bad headlines involving donations from foreign governments with abysmal human rights records, gender pay gaps and an e-mail scandal, some in the media appear to be second-guessing her woman card credentials.
Amy Chozick of the New York Times published an article that appeared online Sunday titled “Hillary Clinton faces test of record as women’s advocate.” Her point is that as Clinton tries to “reintroduce” herself to voters as a champion of women’s rights, her namesake foundation takes money from foreign governments that deny women basic human rights.
Saudi Arabia, for example, has given the Clinton Foundation $10 million since 2001. In 2011, the State Department — still under Hillary — denounced Saudi Arabia for its “lack of equal rights for women and children.” As Chozick noted, common abuses against women in Saudi Arabia include “violence against women, human trafficking and gender discrimination.”
Hey, nobody’s perfect, and with the Clintons forgiveness is always available for a fee. Related: Does Hillary think America-bashing is necessary to discuss global women’s problems? Whatever brings in the foreign money.
Plus: Hillary Clinton is not as strong as media, Democrats would have you believe. Well, to be fair, she’s probably strong enough to beat Jeb.
CROWDFUNDING SITES SEEM PRETTY QUICK TO CENSOR: Challenge to California Prostitution Law Banned by Crowdfunding Site GoFundMe. Though “Operation Choke Point,” the illegal Justice Department assault on businesses that it dislikes, may be at fault.
NEWS FROM MY BACKYARD: Young Republican Explores Primary vs. Scott DesJarlais.
Tennessee Rep. Scott DesJarlais was an unlikely survivor in his 2014 Republican primary, but his next electoral challenge may already be on the horizon.
Grant Starrett, a young aide on both of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns, is contacting donors in advance of a potential run in the 4th District, according to a GOP insider.
DesJarlais was first elected in 2010 when he defeated Rep. Lincoln Davis, a Democrat, in the GOP wave. Accusations about DesJarlais having affairs with patients and encouraging a now ex-wife to have an abortion surfaced prior to his 2012 re-election, which he won with 56 percent.
Last cycle, state Sen. Jim Tracy was a credible threat to DesJarlais in the primary, the congressman’s first since the revelations. But Tracy failed to close the deal with Republican voters. DesJarlais portrayed Tracy as too moderate, then the dynamics of the race changed less than a month before the August primary when he revealed he had cancer. DesJarlais won the primary by less than 50 votes.
Starrett, 27, is vice president and special counsel for Lion Real Estate Group, according to his LinkedIn profile, and former president of Tennesseans for Judicial Accountability. The Stanford and Vanderbilt law school graduate worked on coalitions for the Romney campaign in 2012 and was chairman of Students for Mitt in 2008. (Starrett offered his advice to Republicans in a post-election piece in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.)
Against DesJarlais, Starrett would try and bridge the conservative and establishment camps within the Republican Party. Starrett founded the Stanford Conservative Society, was president of the Federalist Society at Vanderbilt and was an early contributor to Texas Republican Ted Cruz in his competitive 2012 GOP Senate primary with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. But Starrett also has a foot in the establishment camp after two Romney campaigns.
It remains to be seen whether the first-time candidate can raise the money necessary to defeat an incumbent. But Starrett could also attract outside help.
I met Starrett some years ago when I spoke at Vanderbilt. He seems like a good guy, but this is the first I’ve heard of this campaign getting underway.
UPDATE: From the comments: “I went to Paul Ryan’s 29 birthday party on the hill in 1999. He told me he had trouble getting in the house gym b/c nobody believed he was a Congressman. Starrett will be the same age as Mr. Ryan was then.”
AND THIS IS WHY SERIOUS PROBLEMS SHOULD BE HANDLED BY OUTSIDE LAW ENFORCEMENT, NOT CAMPUS AUTHORITIES: UT athletics accused of influencing student discipline.
ROLL CALL: Republicans Not Rushing to Criticize Menendez.
Sen. Mark S. Kirk became the latest Republican to suggest reports of corruption charges against Sen. Robert Menendez are the result of “politically motivated” leaks by the Justice Department.
Echoing speculation from Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Kirk told reporters Monday night that timing of the news about a pending indictment for the New Jersey Democrat could be related to efforts by Menendez to rally support within his party for an Iran sanctions bill.
“Bob Menendez has been an excellent partner for me on the Iran stuff, and I’m worried now by leaking stuff [from] Justice it’s politically motivated to silence Bob for his work on Iran, which he should be praised for,” said Kirk. The pair introduced the Iran Nuclear Weapon Free Act of 2015, a measure that would impose sanctions on Iran only if the nation fails to reach an agreement by deadline.
Asked if he suspected political motivation, Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain said, “I’d love to assume it, but I really don’t know it. I honestly don’t know enough, I just can’t comment on it.”
The Arizona Republican said he admires and respects Menendez for the way he conducted his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. McCain said the leak reminded him of the scandal that forced decorated Gen. David Petraeus to resign as head of the CIA.
When you’ve got a politicized Department of Justice, everything about the Department of Justice is political.
DON’T LIKE NEWS? Crowdsource your own. Ezra Levant is the Andrew Breitbart of Canada. “All of this should scare the heck out of the mainstream media, in any country. Here in America, we are seeing the dinosaur media with record low viewership, while alternative online news sources are thriving. No longer do people have to rely on the traditional gatekeepers of media. And as The Rebel in Canada is showing, people will help pay for quality, accurate journalism. This is a fantastic thing that should, and will, be replicated, a lot.”
YA THINK? Poll: Voters see Hillary and Jeb as old hat. And some GOP news:
The poll also showed largely positive perceptions of Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Fifty three percent of voters said they could back Walker, compared to only 17 percent that said they could not. Fifty six percent said they could support Rubio, while 26 percent could not.
Those two candidates sported the largest margins of potential support. Bush had only seven percentage points between those who said they could support him and those who couldn’t. Donald Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) all had significantly more voters say they could not back them.
Stay tuned. And, of course, all is proceeding as I have foreseen.
March 9, 2015
WHEN THEY WROTE CALIFORNIA MAN, I DON’T THINK THIS GUY WAS WHO THEY HAD IN MIND: Calif. man arrested after reportedly seeking entry at Y-12, ORNL.
A 24-year-old California man was arrested Friday evening after reportedly seeking entry to a Y-12 facility and then later at a security portal at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
According to a report released by the Oak Ridge Police Department, Rishi Chatterjee Malakar of Fremont, Calif. was detained by police for investigation and subsequently interviewed by special agents of the FBI and the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General. He was arrested on a charge of driving on a suspended license.
Police responded to a call at Y-12’s New Hope Center at about 6:22 p.m. Friday “after a male was found attempting to enter the building via a rear door,” the report stated.
Though to be fair, Oak Ridge is a place where the jive is really cool.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE NARRATIVE: NBC News Reporter Maria Shriver Lies about Lack of GOP Leadership at Selma.
HE’S WHERE BUSH WAS IN 2007, BASICALLY: Even a plurality of Democrats want to move on from Obama. By 2023, will the New York Times be cropping Obama out of front-page photos? “Democrats ages 18 to 29, surprisingly, tend to disagree that the next Democratic nominee must pledge to continue down the course set by Obama. Those ages 30 to 44 strongly disagree with this assertion. Only 33 percent of Democratic voters in their 30s and early 40s think the next Democratic nominee must be an Obama Democrat. Similarly, voters who make less than $50,000 are not thrilled about a third term for Obama.”
CHRIS WALLACE TO LANNY DAVIS: Do You Ever Get Tired Of Cleaning Up Clinton Messes?
IT’S A POTEMKIN CANDIDACY ALL THE WAY DOWN: “She took no questions. When she sat down to lead more informal conversations with invited speakers, participants appeared to be reading from teleprompters.”
Where’d she get the Chairman-Mao-Meets-Star-Trek outfit?
UPDATE: From the comments:
Hillary Clinton and Melinda Gates are giving advice to young girls on how to become successful, independent women?……
So, did they make a joking reference to “Marry the right guy” or did everybody just agree to totally ignore that, and how could anyone read the teleprompters with that giant elephant in the room blocking the view?
Heh.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: The Law Schools That Most Goosed Their U.S. News Ranking With School-Funded Jobs.
HE’S SO UNHIP, WHEN YOU SAY DYLAN, HE THINKS YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT DYLAN THOMAS. Whoever he was.
AT AMAZON, 20% off Shoes for men, women, and kids.
Also, take 25% off luggage.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: States Are Slashing College Budgets and Raising Tuition.
The proposals are part of a decades-long shift of making students pay for an increasing share of postsecondary education, leading to tuition increases at public institutions that outpace those at private schools. They come as a diploma, a driver of social and economic mobility that fueled the country’s post-war boom, is more important than ever to both individual and state prosperity.
“When we’re saying more and more Americans need to have this education, we’re pricing it so that the vast group that has never had it before can’t afford it,” said George Pernsteiner, president of the State Higher Education Executive Officers association.
Two-thirds of the 165 million U.S. jobs in 2020 will require education beyond high school, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. In 1973, fewer than a third did.
Students and families are shouldering a bigger share of the burden. Tuition accounted for about 48 percent of public higher-education revenue in 2013, the latest year for which data are available, according to Pernsteiner’s organization, which is based in Boulder, Colorado. That’s double what it was in 1988.
The process has gone on for decades, driven largely by the fact that entitlement and wealth-transfer programs (ironically, overwhelmingly supported by the professoriate) get higher priority with politicians than higher education spending because they’re more effective vote-buying tools. By supporting a welfare state, academics created budgetary competition that they can’t beat.
FASTER PLEASE: Arming the Immune System Against Cancer.
21ST CENTURY HOUSING: Stylish Low-Cost Houses Designed for Singles.
ONE REASON WHY SUPERBUGS ARE OUTRUNNING ANTIBIOTIC DEVELOPMENT: “In 2002, the FDA established new rules for the clinical trials used to test new antibiotics—doubling the number of patients required, thus making drug development harder and more expensive.”
FASTER, PLEASE: Peer-to-Peer Wireless Is Increasing Competition Worldwide.