MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: Meet the College President Taking on ‘Ideological Fascism.’
I’m not sure where I saw it — so probably on Twitter — but somebody said that today’s campus protesters aren’t really protesters at all, but protest reenactors trying to recapture a lost era. That’s about right.
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BERNIE HASN’T BEEN PROPERLY VETTED: Sanderistas: When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro and the Sandinistas Could Teach America a Lesson: As mayor of Burlington, Sanders praised the regimes of Nicaragua and Cuba—claiming bread lines were a sign of economic health and press censorship was necessary in wartime.
In the 1980s, any Bernie Sanders event or interview inevitably wended toward a denunciation of Washington’s Central America policy, typically punctuated with a full-throated defense of the dictatorship in Nicaragua. As one sympathetic biographer wrote in 1991, Sanders “probably has done more than any other elected politician in the country to actively support the Sandinistas and their revolution.” Reflecting on a Potemkin tour of revolutionary Nicaragua he took in 1985, Sanders marveled that he was, “believe it or not, the highest ranking American official” to attend a parade celebrating the Sandinista seizure of power.
It’s quite easy to believe, actually, when one wonders what elected American official would knowingly join a group of largely unelected officials of various “fraternal” Soviet dictatorships while, just a few feet away, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega bellows into a microphone that the United States is governed by a criminal band of terrorists.
None of this bothered Sanders, though, because he largely shared Ortega’s worldview.
He’s not really a nice old man.
ASHE SCHOW: What’s Next For Marco Rubio?
FROM BUSH DERANGEMENT SYNDROME TO TRUMP ANXIETY:
Psychologists and other therapists are reporting that the political rise of Donald Trump is causing ‘Trump anxiety’ among their clients. Trump Anxiety, unlike Bush Derangement Syndrome which only afflicted Democrats, is afflicting Americans regardless of their political affiliation.
* * * * * * * *
Another example is Ken Goldstein, a Los Angeles-based author and businessman who is a Democrat. Goldstein recalled meeting with a business associate recently and feeling astounded when the man said he thought Trump would “be great for America.” “You just realize you have nothing more to say to that person,” he said.
Perhaps the most insidious symptom of Trump Anxiety is highlighted by Goldstein finding little comfort in the possibility of Trump’s defeat because the Donald’s followers “are still there.” “Who are these people?” he asked. “Are they at the grocery store, are they sitting next to me at Dodger Stadium? That makes me nervous.”
Which is nothing new; after the 1972 election, the leftwing New Yorker (but I repeat myself) film critic Pauline Kael was quoted by the New York Times as saying, “I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. But sometimes when I’m in a theater I can feel them.”
Similarly, in 2008, the Manhattan Institute’s Harry Stein was at a 2008 dinner party at Hastings on Hudson, in deepest of deep blue New York State (How blue is it?!, as another Ed was wont to rhetorically ask Johnny Carson? It’s Keith Olbermann’s birthplace!) in which he dared to be the lone voice of dissent, proffering his opinion that a failed community organizer might not be the best choice for the presidency. His host immediately snorted, Margaret Dumont-style, “I can’t believe I’m sitting next to a Republican!”, which would become the title of Stein’s book early the following year, published just as the Madoff-esque bubble burst on Hopenchange. (Just ask Michigan’s disillusioned voters.)
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: SUNY-Buffalo Law School, After Reducing Faculty By 50% Through Buyouts, Pays Former Dean $300k While He Works For World Bank.
WELL, THAT’S BECAUSE IT WON’T: Intel Whistle-Blowers Fear Government Won’t Protect Them.
Nearly three years after Edward Snowden bypassed the intelligence community’s own process for reporting wrongdoing and leaked troves of classified documents to Glenn Greenwald, the system for protecting whistle-blowers inside the national security state remains broken.
This is the view of current and former intelligence officials, national security lawyers and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Their message is simple: Whistle-blowers are often too intimidated to take their case to the inspectors general and Congress.
“There is a systemic problem with the whistle-blower process,” Representative Devin Nunes told me. “There is no easy way for them to come forward that doesn’t jeopardize their careers, across the whole defense and intelligence community enterprise.”
My advice to people in the intelligence community who know of misdeeds there: Wait until there’s a Republican in the White House. Then you’ll be untouchable heroes. Some more sophisticated thoughts are here.
SCOTT OTT: I Voted for Rubio; Here’s the Greatest Service He Can Perform Now for His Beloved Nation.
Read the whole thing.
WHEN KOCH DERANGEMENT SYNDROME MEETS COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: Koch Group Video Praising Sanders Causes Debate Scuffle.
THAT’S GOOD ADVICE FOR NORMAL PEOPLE, BUT NOT FOR OUR LIGHTBRINGER: President Obama, Always Go To The Funeral.
I’ve always remembered a piece of advice I once read: always go to the funeral, it said. Even if you don’t know if you should, even if you’d rather not, always go to the funeral. The reasoning behind the advice is that you’re going for the people left behind. It will mean something to them.
When former first lady Nancy Reagan is buried on Friday, first lady Michelle Obama will attend the funeral, which is being held in California, but President Obama will not. Instead, he will be in Austin, Texas, leading a conversation about innovation in government at SxSW, and then headlining two Democratic fundraisers.
But for President Obama, a man so skilled in symbolism, attending Mrs. Reagan’s funeral Friday — or Justice Antonin Scalia’s funeral Mass a few weeks earlier — could have been a moment for him to send a message that even Washington, and he as its leader, can rise above politics when it matters.
Well, that’s because he can’t.
These two funeral services are just the most recent examples of missed opportunities for President Obama to do the small things, especially with Republicans, that could have had a big impact on his presidency. In and of themselves, the gestures that build and sustain relationships in Washington can seem insignificant — calling a congressman to ask his opinion about this or that, asking a subcommittee chair to dinner, giving out extra tickets to the White House picnic for a congresswoman’s children.
Over the last seven years, President Obama has had major successes related to his agenda, but he has done little of the relationship building that connects a White House to the rest of Washington and makes broader progress possible.
Obama’s not a politician. He’s a messiah. If you reject him, you’re a heretic and unworthy of consideration. Bill Clinton wants you to love him. Obama just wants you to obey, or shut up.
HEH: Rand Paul Mocks Hillary Clinton For Spending $90,000 on a Campaign Playlist, Offers His Own List For Her. Including Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies” and Matchbox 20’s “3 AM.”
CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: The Lobbyists Who Love Bernie Sanders.
FEDERAL EMPLOYEE UNION CHIEF LET VETS DIE RATHER THAN TELL REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS: Germaine Clarno wonders “how many lives might have been saved” if she had gone to Sen. Mark Kirk, R-IL, first instead of to Democrat Representatives Danny Davis and Tammy Baldwin? The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group’s Luke Rosiak has what may well be one of the saddest stories you will ever read.
THE HILL: Comey’s FBI Makes Waves:
The aggressive posture of the FBI under Director James Comey is becoming a political problem for the White House.
The FBI’s demand that Apple help unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers has outraged Silicon Valley, a significant source of political support for President Obama and Democrats.
Comey, meanwhile, has stirred tensions by linking rising violent crime rates to the Black Lives Matter movement’s focus on police violence and by warning about “gaps” in the screening process for Syrian refugees.
Then there’s the biggest issue of all: the FBI’s investigation into the private email server used by Hillary Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of State and the leading contender to win the Democratic presidential nomination.
A decision by the FBI to charge Clinton or her top aides for mishandling classified information would be a shock to the political system.
In these cases and more, Comey — a Republican who donated in 2012 to Mitt Romney — has proved he is “not attached to the strings of the White House,” said Ron Hosko, the former head of the FBI’s criminal investigative division and a critic of Obama’s law enforcement strategies.
Publicly, administration officials have not betrayed any worry about the Clinton probe. They have also downplayed any differences of opinion on Apple.
But former officials say the FBI’s moves are clearly ruffling feathers within the administration.
Good.
“IF REPUBLICANS DON’T UNITE, FOR SURE, THE DEMOCRATS WILL WIN,” Former White Press Secretary Dana Perino tells PJM in a new video interview.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: UC Davis Women’s Center offers ‘mind spa services’ for those upset by pro-life display; The women’s center also recruited volunteers to provide ‘umbrella escorts’ for protesters who didn’t want to stand in the sun. Parasols for fragile skin: How Victorian!
IN CASE YOU EVER LABORED UNDER THE DELUSION THAT THINGS LIKE BAR EXAMS ARE THERE TO PROTECT CONSUMERS: State Supreme Court Lowers Bar Exam Standards Due To Declining Pass Rates.
HILLARY GRAND JURY PROBING EMAIL AND CLINTON FOUNDATION POLITICAL CORRUPTION: That’s the word from former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group’s Richard Pollock. A former FBI agent also tells Pollock that the Clinton Foundation investigative is being led by the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section.
LIFE IN AMERICA: Blue Collar Blues. “The past nine recessions — spread between 1953 and 2008 — battered men, whose employment rates were notched down each time and never fully recovered, and sectors that employed the least-educated men were hit the hardest. Women, on the other hand, have fared better and remain on pace to recover the jobs lost during the most recent recession, the Stanford Report Card on Poverty and Inequality reports.”
Plus: “We are in a vicious cycle where boys who aren’t raised by their fathers don’t get the schooling or the labor force experience they need to be marriageable, and they are more than likely to repeat the process.”
CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: The Lobbyists Who Love Bernie Sanders.
MARK LEVIN endorses Ted Cruz.
BUT DONALD TRUMP IS A FASCIST FOR TALKING ABOUT LIBEL REFORM: AG Lynch Testifies: Justice Dept. Has ‘Discussed’ Civil Legal Action Against Climate Change Deniers.
THIS IS BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS: Short men, overweight women get a raw deal in life in jobs and income — Study.
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