Archive for 2015
September 24, 2015
FEEL THE BERN! NEW CNN POLL: SANDERS UP BY 16% OVER HILLARY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
At Power Line, John Hinderaker adds, “The other candidate who stands out as an anomaly is Donald Trump. His net favorability score is even worse than Hillary’s at 36/57/5. And, like Mrs. Clinton, Trump is a figure about whom just about everyone has formed an opinion. On honesty and trustworthiness, too, Trump is an outlier. 35% consider him honest and trustworthy, while 57% say he is not, and 8% have no opinion. Trump has not been a fixture on the political scene for decades like Hillary Clinton, so maybe he has more room to change voters’ perceptions. But based on this Quinnipiac data, it appears that the candidates with the worst chances of winning the presidential race are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.”
THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS WAS JUST A NOVEL, RIGHT GUYS? RIGHT? GUYS? ‘Camp of The Saints’ Seen Mirrored In Pope’s Message.
The novel, which has been translated into English, is entitled Camp of the Saints, and posits that the liberalism of the West would cause Western nations to throw open their doors to so many migrants that it would spell the doom of liberal society itself. Raspail’s thesis, quite simply, is that liberalism is inadequate to defend liberalism.
All around the world, events seem to be lining up with the predictions of the book. The novel features a new pope, born in Latin American, who is “in tune with the times, congenial to the press” who preaches “universal love” and calls on the Western world to open its borders to the world’s migrants. Now, as in the novel, prominent political officials are urging on ever larger waves; secular and religious leaders hold hands to pressure blue collar citizens to drop their resistance; media elites and celebrities zealously cheer the opportunity that the migrants provide to atone for the alleged sins of the West— for the chance to rebalance the wealth and power of the world by allowing poor migrants from failed states to rush in to claim its treasures.
Raspail argues that the inability of the Western conscience to erect walls, to “put her foot down,” to turn people away, will lead to the undoing of Western civilization itself.
As the world’s eyes turn to the U.S. arrival of the pope, many conservatives are arguing that Jean Raspail’s book has perhaps come to life.
That’s silly. It’s like suggesting that Fallen Angels was prophetic.
THIS WILL NOT IMPACT MY CAR-BUYING PLANS: With Bentley’s Bentayga officially available and Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini working on SUVs of their own, Mercedes toys with the idea of an ultra-luxury SUV.
TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Woman, 34, ‘met a 14-year-old boy gaming on Xbox, traveled to Texas and repeatedly had sex with him before whisking him off to Wisconsin.’
FACT CHECK: Did Obama Really Block a 13-Year-Old Conservative Critic on Twitter? “The claim by a popular 13-year-old conservative commentator that President Barack Obama blocked him on Twitter appears to be false.”
When you’ve lost Glenn Beck’s The Blaze Website on this story…
(I’m adding this as an update to our post this morning as well.)
UPDATE: The 2016 Nissan Altima Sedan.
FRUITS OF A POISONOUS POLITICAL CLASS: We’re doomed: EU chief fears union will COLLAPSE over migrant crisis.
VIDEO: “IT’S A BABY F***ING WHALE, MAN!” “To cleanse the palate, via the Daily Beast, I give you the most Boston thing that ever has happened or ever will happen,” Allahpundit writes. “I made the mistake of watching it while having lunch and laughed so hard that I had to stop so that I wouldn’t choke.”
(Language alert if you’re playing the videos at work — there are F-bombs galore, needless to say.)
AND YET, MANY SCHOOLS BANNED RECESS: Sitting Is Bad for Children, Too.
FRANK RICH NAILS THE TRUMP PHENOMENON: ‘A MUCH-NEEDED WRECKING BALL:’ “My old journalistic frenemy, Frank Rich (we both worked for the same editor at Time magazine, the late Martha Duffy), hates Republicans, hates conservatives and is just about as reliable a liberal as they come. He’s also generally wrong about everything, from the worth of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals to contemporary politics. But, man, does he nail the appeal of The Donald and the seething hot mess that is the GOP establishment and the entire political establishment in general,” Michael Walsh writes.
WELL, NOW WE KNOW WHERE TRUMP STANDS ON THE FIRST AMENDMENT: “And if the tweets don’t work, he’ll threaten to sue critics or stick the FCC on them for daring to criticize him on TV,” Betsy Newmark writes in the midst of a lengthy roundup of the day’s events. “Just the temperament we want in a president. Rich Lowry said that Carly Fiorina ‘cut [Trump’s] balls off with the precision of a surgeon’ and then tweeted that Fox News owes him an apology for using ‘such foul language on TV’ and the FCC should fine him for saying ‘balls’ on TV. And this is the guy whose big appeal is that he doesn’t try to be all politically correct. Lowry ridicules Trump’s thin skin….How typical that Donald Trump wants to and thinks it’s possible to censor political speech on cable TV. Just more proof that he’s a true liberal pretending to be a conservative.”
NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Addressable molecular machines arranged in a porous crystal.
MARK STEYN: “IT’S A GOOD THING GERMANY HAS PLENTY OF — OH, WHAT’S THE WORD? — LEBENSRAUM:”
Angela Merkel, a childless woman, has been obsessed with her country’s deathbed demography since taking office: Germany’s fertility rate has fallen from 2.9 births per woman in 1965 to 1.3 today, and, even with immigration, they’re already in net population decline. I wrote about this extensively in America Alone, and all that’s happened since then is that the trend has accelerated. Without Germans, there won’t be a Germany: when your workforce shrinks and ages, you can’t be the economic powerhouse of Europe, or justify your seat at the G7 summit.
I was supposedly an “alarmist” when America Alone warned of the demographic death spiral. Now every western reporter has embraced the thesis as justification for accepting “refugees” — because you wrinkly old Krauts need these strapping young Muslim lads far more than they need you. It’s an easy piece to write: pick a German town with declining population — and don’t worry, there are zillions to choose from.
What could go wrong?
HENCE, THE RISE OF TRUMP:
Shot: Pope Suggests the U.S. Open Southern Border to All.
Double-shot: Albright: Flyover Country Shows There’s Room for More Refugees.
Chaser: “Pope Francis is more than head of the Catholic Church — he’s also the head of state of the Vatican, which as a government has possibly the most restrictive immigration and citizenship policies of any nation in the world.”
FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED: “Today it is my sad duty to report to you the death of the Pax Americana. This isn’t shocking news, as though the Pax had died unexpectedly in a car accident. No, this has been a long and lingering death — but the end now has come,” Steve Green writes — and I think I need to borrow a cup or 20 of Steve’s vodka after reading it; the photo accompanying the article says it all.
Still though — look on the bright side: Mr. Obama assured us that we would have “peace in our time” during his second term’s inauguration speech. With a keen knowledge of modern history like that, what’s the worst that could happen?
AUSTRALIAN JOURNALIST VISITS EXOTIC FOREIGN COUNTRY, REPORTS BACK ON STRANGE COMINGS AND GOINGS TO HIS ASTONISHED READERS. “Texas is like Australia with the handbrake off,” Tim Blair writes in the UK Spectator. Needless to say, read the whole thing; this is just a tasty sample:
There is no individual income tax and no corporate income tax, which explains the state’s rapid economic and population growth. A recent downturn has sparked some concern, however. Apparently Texas will only create another 150,000 jobs during 2015 – about the same number as Australia, from a population only a few million larger. In a good year, that number of jobs is easily generated by a single Texan city.
* * * * * * * * *
Well, here’s one reason to head for Austin. I’m staying at the sprawling compound of mysterious internet identity David Burge, among America’s most perceptive and hilarious online commentators. A routine is quickly established. By night, the Burges take me around Austin’s finest and lowest establishments (often they’re the same). By day Dave runs whatever business he’s involved in – stolen human organs, for all I know – while Mrs Burge and I check out the sights. I buy a pair of shoes at a store that also sells pistols, rifles and semi-autos, drop by Torchy’s for a Trailer Park Taco (experienced hands know to order them ‘extra trashy’) and then we wheel the Burge family’s train-sized Ford F150 through a car wash. Remarkably, the car wash is beneath a scale replica of the University of Texas tower – a structure notorious for gunman Charles Whitman’s 1966 killing spree, which reduced the university’s need for graduation diplomas by 14.
* * * * * * * * *
As a general rule, the shabbier a barbeque joint, the more delicious will be its various briskets, ribs and sausages. Texas isn’t big on regulation, but many of its best barbeque sites must be in breach of a building law or two. Some seem so aged and fragile that they’re defying the law of gravity.
Analysis: mostly true.
FIREFOX? I REMEMBER THAT. Firefox 41 integrates WebRTC messaging app as it fights for relevance.
ANOTHER REASON WHY THE FILIBUSTER MUST GO: Senate Democrats Block Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood.
Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked legislation to keep the government funded through Dec. 11 because it would have also stripped out funding for Planned Parenthood.
The measure was all but guaranteed to fail because the Senate Republican majority does not control the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation.
There are now six days left before the end of the fiscal year, and the government could be in for a partial shutdown if no spending bill is approved by Sept. 30. Republican leaders, eager to avoid politically dangerous shutdown, are now likely to introduce a new temporary funding measure that leaves Planned Parenthood funding intact and can win enough Democratic votes to pass.
Senate Democrats, led by Harry Reid, dispensed with the filibuster to ensure confirmation of Obama’s radical leftist judicial and cabinet nominees, and of course bypassed it via the reconciliation process to pass Obamacare without a single Republican supporter.
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to retain the filibuster rule is another example of the GOP leadership’s unwillngness to robustly assert Congress’s constitutional role in checking presidential power and ensuring political accountability. As David Rivkin and Lee Casey observed back in March:
By striking at Congress’s constitutional powers, particularly the power of the purse, Mr. Obama seeks an unprecedented aggrandizement of presidential power. One way to prevent that happening is by reforming the filibuster rule.
Spending battles and government shutdowns have taken place in the past. Yet the Obama administration’s strategy, denying the very legitimacy of Congress’s use of its appropriations power, is historically unprecedented. It has been abetted by Democratic senators who deploy the filibuster to keep spending legislation that the president opposes from an up-or-down Senate vote. Their goal is to spare the president any potential political damage from casting a veto, and to allow him to shift responsibility for government shutdowns from himself to Congress—undermining the paramount constitutional virtue of accountability. This situation has particularly vitiated the authority of the House of Representatives, which originates all of the spending bills.
The constitutional balance of power between the two political branches must be restored. In this connection, it is important to understand that the Senate filibuster rule has no constitutional basis. . . .
Tradition is important, and eliminating the filibuster, despite its diminished policy utility, would be a momentous step. Yet it is one Senate Republicans should consider taking, given the constitutional imperatives at stake. . . .
If legislation commanding the support of majorities in both the House and Senate can no longer be permanently delayed by filibustering, a recalcitrant president would still be able to shut down a government agency or department by vetoing appropriations. But the American people would know whom to hold responsible.
Exactly.
IS GOOGLE MANAGEMENT LOSING ITS EDGE? Google Ideas Invites Online Harassers to Talk About Online Harassment.
Harper is well-known for sending relentless mobs of abusers after her critics. Roberto Rosario, a Puerto Rican software developer and diversity activist, says he has been “harassed on the web daily” ever since he dared to criticise one of Harper’s Twitter blocking tools, the Good Game Autoblocker.
An anonymous Reddit user claiming to support Harper even posted his family’s personal details on the internet, warning him to stop speaking out against Harper’s projects. Harper, the “anti-abuse activist,” did nothing to stop this. Data scientist Chris Von Csefalvay endured repeated intimidation, including death threats against his wife, after Harper demonised him on social media.
Harper never intervenes to stop the abuse of critics on her behalf and often joins in.
If only they’d thought to Google her first.
EPA OFFICIAL FLEW HOME EVERY WEEKEND FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO ORANGE COUNTY ON TAXPAYER’S DIME:
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official flew nearly every weekend from his office in San Francisco to his home in southern California, amassing $69,000 in “excessive trips,” according to the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
A new audit found that the former Region 9 Administrator also charged taxpayers nearly $4,000 for ineligible travel costs, as the official made 88 trips that he said were work related in just three years.
“The former Region 9 Administrator made excessive trips to Southern California and claimed ineligible travel costs,” the OIG said. “He made 88 trips in total from October 2006 through January 2009. For 51 of the 88 trips (58 percent), the former Region 9 Administrator traveled to Orange County/Los Angeles County (OC/LA), California, near the former Region 9 Administrator’s residence, at a cost of approximately $69,000.”
The former official lived in Aliso Viejo, Calif., in Orange Country, though he mainly worked out of the Region 9 headquarters in San Francisco. The audit found that the official “traveled almost every weekend” to Orange County.
In addition to shaking down taxpayers, as the Professor likes to say, I’ll believe global warming is a crisis when the people who tell me it’s a crisis (such as those who bitch about “binge tourism”) start to act like it’s a crisis themselves.
(Wow, if only we had a Republican Congress and Senate; they’d put a stop to all of this bureaucratic abuse.)
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MITT ROMNEY, AMERICA WOULD BECOME AN OVERWEENING NATIONAL-SECURITY STATE. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! Obama administration quietly explored ways to bypass smartphone encryption. “The approaches were analyzed as part of a months-long government discussion about how to deal with the growing use of encryption in which no one but the user can see the information. . . . All four approaches amount to what most cryptography experts call a ‘backdoor’ because they would require developers to alter their systems by adding a surreptitious mechanism for accessing encrypted content, according to Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology.”