POLLING: Conservatives gain 31 seats and have 77% chance of controlling a majority.
As noted here previously, Theresa May’s Conservatives appear to be doing better in traditionally Labour regions, rather than just running up the totals with Tory voters.
“ELIMINATE” SEEMS A BIT STRONG: New antibiotic could eliminate the global threat of antibiotic-resistant infections. This approach, which I mentioned earlier, just extends the useful life of last-resort antibiotic Vancomycin.
BUT THE NARRATIVE! NSA Leaks Contradict What Obama Promised The Public About Russia’s Election Meddling.
“What I was concerned about in particular was making sure [the DNC hack] wasn’t compounded by potential hacking that could hamper vote counting, affect the actual election process itself,” Obama said. “So in early September when I saw President Putin in China, I felt that the most effective way to ensure that that didn’t happen was to talk to him directly and tell him to cut it out and there were going to be serious consequences if he didn’t. And in fact we did not see further tampering of the election process.”
“But the leaks through WikiLeaks had already occurred,” Obama said, indicating that any further election interference was the result of emails released by WikiLeaks in the days and weeks leading up to the election.
“The president made it sound like that worked,” The New York Times reported at the time, noting Obama’s claim that “we did not see further tampering of the election process.”
But NSA documents published by The Intercept on Monday revealed that as late as October 31 or November 1, hackers launched an election-related spearfishing operation “targeting U.S. local government organizations.”
In other words, Russia was still tampering with the American electoral process after Obama said they ceased doing so. The documents’ authenticity have been confirmed by U.S. officials, and the U.S. Department of Justice charged on Monday the woman who leaked the Top Secret documents to The Intercept.
“The NSA assessed that this phase of the spear-fishing operation was likely launched on either October 31 or November 1 and sent spear-fishing emails to 122 email addresses ‘associated with named local government organizations,’ probably to officials ‘involved in the management of voter registration systems,’” The Intercept reported.
The leaked documents reveal that two other election-related hacking efforts were launched in October — one month after Putin supposedly “cut it out.”
Putin was merely taking advantage of the flexibility afforded him by Obama’s reelection.
RICHARD EPSTEIN: Containing Climate Change Hysteria.
THIS SEEMS LIKE A BIG DEAL: Security Analysts Confirm Links Between Beijing Spy Agency and Security Firm.
RAND PAUL: We should repeal Obamacare like Republicans promised, not just “fix” it.
Well, that is what they’ve promised to do in every election since 2010.
QUESTION ASKED: At What Point Is Islamist Rhetoric a Crime?
Jim Geraghty:
Yesterday on Twitter, Sam Hooper gave me a little grief – perhaps deserved – for my comments on the day’s Three Martini Lunch podcast generally supportive of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposal of new measures in response to the recent Islamist terror attacks.
Hooper asked, “should someone be arrested for saying ‘I want to overthrow the US government and establish an Islamic state?” Not for actually doing it, mind you, but merely for saying the words. Are saying those words aloud a crime? If so, aren’t we getting unnervingly close to the concept of “Thought Crimes”?
It’s fair to ask that question; it’s entirely possible that my perspective on terrorism right now is emotionally clouded by the thought of those ten children, and 22 people overall, went to an Ariana Grande concert one night and never came home. Indeed, it would be odd and unnerving and inconsistent with our traditions of free expression to arrest and imprison someone for the mere expression of the thought.
(On the other hand, if you’re going to have a hate crime law the way the United Kingdom does, it’s pretty ridiculous to not apply it to someone who’s preaching violence against infidels.)
But when we’ve witnessed and endured Islamist terror attack after Islamist terror attack in one Western city after another, isn’t it fair to ask how many who call for an Islamist overthrow of the government and imposition of Sharia law are truly harmless?
This is a gray area for liberal (in the classic sense) governments. But perhaps it would clarify our thinking if we imagined what steps would be permissible and advisable if parts of the Islamic world were at actual war with the West — which they are.
IN THE MAIL: The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return.
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BETTER DEAD THAN RUDE: Roger Simon on “Islamophobia” as Murder Weapon.
(Classical reference in headline.)
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: It’s The Hypocrisy, Stupid: Progressives Go The Full Jimmy Swaggart. “Some concerned Democrats are worried that their party may have lost the key blue-wall states because of its elitism, manifested as disdain for Americans between the coasts. . . . Perhaps what drives proverbially average Americans crazy is not the success and money of others, but the condescension and hypocrisy of what a particular elite says contrasted with how it lives: The disconnect recalls the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart, the televangelist who on Sunday mornings three decades ago used to break into tears as he loudly condemned the sins of the flesh, while he privately indulged his worldly appetites. Elites, whose lifestyles lead them to burn lots of carbon, rail about the Paris accords to those who get by burning lots less. What is galling is to see how little the elites’ green rhetoric is backed up by their green behavior. Could Hollywood celebrities at least for a year swear off the use of their private jets that emit more carbon emissions in a year than entire small towns in Ohio?”
Apparently not.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: To Save Public Higher Education, Defang Public Sector Unions.
In the New York Times last week, David Leonhardt denounced “the assault on colleges—and the American Dream” by state legislatures across the country that are gradually reducing their investments in public higher education. These cuts, Leonhardt says, undermine social mobility by forcing state colleges to pass over low-income students and enroll less economically diverse freshman classes. While there are reasonable objections to the way colleges spend the money they do have, the trend Leonhardt describes is indeed a cause for concern.
But why do public university budgets keep getting the ax? It’s not (at least not primarily) about the selfishness of wealthy taxpayers. The real answer is more inconvenient for the Democratic coalition: Namely, that exploding public pension costs are putting tremendous pressure on state budgets, and higher education is the softest political target for the belt-tightening needed to make up for it. . . .
So long as public sector unions have a powerful grip on state legislatures, and so long as they can extract inviolable pension commitments (and paper over the magnitude of these promises by assuming unrealistic rates of return) discretionary programs without guaranteed funding carveouts will continue to be squeezed. You won’t hear many progressive activists making this case, but the single best avenue for ensuring that public colleges are fully funded is to roll back collective bargaining rights for unionized public employees so that pension obligations can be put on a sustainable path.
Or at least, you won’t hear many progressive activists making this case anytime soon.
But in the long-run, the contradiction between state-level Democrats’ loyalty to public sector unions and their desire to expand social welfare programs of various kinds will become increasingly hard to conceal.
But you can bet they’ll try to conceal it as long as they can.
ANGELO CODEVILLA: Punishing The Real Russia Crime: Leaking.
To divert attention from Clinton’s assorted e-mail problems, the DNC hired its associated IT firm, Crowdstike, which concluded―without giving any evidence―that “the Russians” had been hacking Democrats, and that they had done so to help the Republicans. The intelligence agencies concurred. Numerous intelligence officials have claimed to know who supplied the-mails to Wikileaks. No one has given evidence on the record. A minor defensive maneuver at the time, the “Russia interference in the elections” narrative grew into the Democratic Party’s main explanation for the massive electoral rejection at all levels it ended up suffering on November 8, 2016.
When Donald Trump became the Republican nominee, much of the U.S government, intelligence agencies included, conducted “opposition research” on him. This included tacitly validating a scurrilous report by a British source of Donald Trump with Russian prostitutes. At first, it targeted Paul Manafort, whom Trump had chosen to manage his campaign at the Republican convention, and Carter Page, a minor foreign policy advisor. The FBI and the Justice Department obtained a warrant from the secret court established under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to intercept their electronic communications. Both men had worked, legally, with Russian entities.
On May 24, 2017 Obama’s CIA Director John O. Brennan testified in that regard with language that reflected the “probable cause” assumption presented to the court that these were or could be “foreign agents.”
As Glenn has noted here previously, “Brennan’s track record is poor and his motives suspect.”
And do read the whole thing.
COMPETITION: Amazon Fights Wal-Mart for Low-Income Shoppers.
The online retailer giant said Tuesday that it will offer a nearly 20% segment of the U.S. population—people who obtain government assistance with cards typically used for food stamps—a $5.99 monthly Prime membership, less than the $10.99 a month or $99 annual plan for other consumers. The membership buys access to unlimited two-day shipping, video and music content, photo storage and other perks.
The new Prime offering takes direct aim at Wal-Mart, which counts on shoppers who receive government assistance for a large percentage of sales. Wal-Mart generated about $13 billion in sales last year from shoppers using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, accounting for around 18% of the money spent through the program nationwide. Those customers also spend additional income while in Wal-Mart stores.
Amazon will require cards typically used for food stamps as an initial measure to determine participant eligibility, although they can’t yet be widely used for shopping online. The retailer plans to add additional ways to qualify.
What could go wrong?
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Is a Vasectomy Now the Only Way Men Can Be Truly Safe from Financial Extortion? “Ironically, this notion – of privileged white men taking control of their reproductive destinies – has given some feminists the willies.
If I were a young single guy, I’d be inclined to bank a bunch of sperm, then get a vasectomy. For men, that’s pretty much the only way to achieve “reproductive rights.”
And on this topic, I should once again plug a piece by my Tennessee colleague Michael Higdon (just promoted to full Professor): Fatherhood by Conscription: Nonconsensual Insemination and the Duty of Child Support.
WINGS OVER THE NORMANDY COAST: A USAF C-130 participating in a D-Day commemoration ceremony flies past Mont St. Michel.
RELATED: Taking D-Day’s high ground.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Better School, Better Scholars, Right? Not So Much. “Deadwood blossoms among Ivy. World-class sprinters labor at institutions considered also-rans.”
CHARLIE MARTIN: Courage, ‘Courage,’ and the British Blitz Spirit.
“Things I say and do don’t have to fit into a political manifesto,” she said. “The way I see my role is to make people understand that the wonderful Western idea of multiculturalism and political correctness is counterproductive. It works to help them [the radical Islamists]. So we have to abandon that.”
The article includes her take on Trump: “…he is too inexperienced to resist distractions.” She thinks he Trump should focus on combating political Islamism. She’s also worried about European populists.
HOW THE FEDS CAUGHT NSA LEAKER REALITY WINNER. I actually suspect this is BS, and that they had her — or The Intercept — under surveillance already, as per the Obama-era “Insider Threat” program.
Of course, there may have been other tipoffs: NSA Leaker: ‘Being White Is Terrorism.’
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