YES, HE IS: Rich Lowry: The Pundits Have It All Wrong. Ted Cruz Is a Real Threat For the Nomination. “The political press corps made up its mind about him — too divisive — as soon as he showed up in Washington, and has never entirely gotten over its dismissive treatment of his campaign. Cruz has never mounted a John McCain-style charm offensive with reporters, most of whom, it is safe to say, find him personally off-putting. And he is hated with a burning passion by his party’s own elite. The appeal of Cruz’s conservative populism is lost on most reporters and political insiders, who have a natural reflex to roll their eyes at the message and the messenger.”
Archive for 2015
November 13, 2015
FEEL GOOD STORY OF THE DAY: Officials Believe U.S. Airstrike Killed ‘Jihadi John’ from ISIS Beheading Videos.
THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Pentagon chief Ashton Carter just fired his top military aide over ‘misconduct.’
WASHINGTON POST: Why aren’t Hillary Clinton’s exaggerations of her life story bigger news? Because the press gives her a pass? Or because people already think she’s a liar? Note that here the conclusion is that we just expect too much from our politicians.
I CAN TASTE THE OMELET ALREADY: The Campus Purges are Only Going to Get a Lot Worse, Michael Ledeen writes, along with some thoughts on how to spot the universities where actual progress is occurring.
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: US flies B-52 bombers near disputed islands claimed by China.
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION COMES TO AMERICA’S CAMPUSES: It’s deja Mao all over again for Roger Simon, who sees echos of the Communist China he visited in 1979 on today’s college campuses. Can’t imagine what caused such a “triggering” moment for Roger this week, can you?
HOW EPA TRIED TO HIDE ITS YELLOW RIVER: You won’t believe what the bureaucrats did to keep the Gold King Mine spill out of the public eye. Or maybe you will, actually.
THE NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME PROGRESSIVES: Vox: Say, why is the DNC scheduling debates when no one watches?
“It’s pretty clear at this point that Wasserman Schultz wants to bury the debates to protect Hillary,” Ed Morrissey writes at Hot Air. “But that also makes clear that the DNC chair thinks Hillary needs protecting, too — a tacit admission, at least, that she’s a poor candidate who’s likely to blow a lead like she did in 2008. Shouldn’t that be a message to other Democrats that they’re heading into disaster … again?”
What are they going to do at this point? Biden has signaled he’s ready to spend more time with his family when January 2017 rolls around, and even if one of them makes a full court press on Saturday, I don’t think anyone in the audience at Drake University or the person watching at home* is going to confuse Martin O’Malley or 74-year old Bernie Sanders with then-47 year old Barack Obama in full budding rock star mode.
* I keed, I keed — but not by much, based on the above headline.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Profs Write Openly Racist Manifesto Against Campus Concealed Carry.
Related: College ‘Safe Space’ Boos an Asian Woman For Declaring ‘Black People Can Be Racist.’
I got an email about my USA Today column from an angry lefty with the usual “Republicans are a bunch of dying old white people who’ll be gone soon” eliminationist rhetoric. I was tempted to send him this article on the GOP’s takeover of state governments. But I’ll repeat a question I asked earlier: In light of these campus scandals, will we see more, or less, human, financial, and reputational capital flowing to higher education in the future?
I REMEMBER WHEN IT WAS JUST PARANOID WINGNUTS WHO FELT THIS WAY: Poll: Most think Clinton’s emails unethical or illegal.
Nearly 7 in 10 Americans think Hillary Clinton acted either unethically or illegally by using a private email server while secretary of State, a new poll says.
Approximately 68 percent believe the Democratic presidential candidate behaved inappropriately in some fashion, according to the McClatchy-Marist survey.
It said that 40 percent believe Clinton used her personal storage device unethically but not illegally. Another 28 percent, it said, think Clinton broke the law.
An additional 27 percent believed Clinton did nothing wrong, while 5 percent had no opinion.
Thursday’s results come as the FBI is expanding its investigation into Clinton’s emails, according to Fox News.
Agents are probing her messages beyond a provision involving “gross negligence” with sensitive national intelligence, it said that morning.
They are now investigating whether statements Clinton or her aides made violate a federal statute on providing “materially false” information, the news outlet added.
Americans are also split over whether Clinton has adequately addressed her handling of the 2012 terrorist attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, the poll additionally found.
It discovered that 49 percent believe she has sufficiently answered questions about the incident.
Another 45 percent say that Republicans should keep investigating the matter, despite Clinton’s testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi late last month.
Hillary’s baggage is mostly out of sight on TV, but it’s heavy.
SO, A LITTLE OLDER THAN HILLARY: Astronomers Find 13 Billion Year Old Stars at Milky Way’s Center. (At least they don’t look tired.)
DOES THIS MAKE THEM TRANS-NEURONS: Neurons Can Be Changed from One Type Into Another from Within the Brain.
SO AT LEAST SOME CULTURE SURVIVES: Astronaut plays bagpipes on International Space Station.
THE RAINS IN SPAIN: Mysterious ‘Blood Rain’ Tints Water a Gruesome Hue.
WHY STEREOTYPES EXIST: Melissa Click’s Resume Is a F***ing Parody.
YEAH, OCCASIONALLY I DO WAKE UP SCREAMING: Obama Has a Strategy in the Middle East, and It’s Working.
OBAMA AND GULLIBLE IDIOTS MOST AFFECTED: Iran Threatens to Walk Away from Nuke Deal.
NEWS FROM THE CULTURE WARS: Fighting back in the War on Comedy.
BEYOND PARODY: Vox Media Bans Staff from Mansplaining.
DO YOU MISS HIM YET: George W. Bush surprises veterans visiting the Bush Center.