Archive for 2018
October 28, 2018
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RUBEN NAVARRETTE: Latinos are waking up to the duplicity of the Democrats.
As a Never Trumper, I didn’t get it. So, I interviewed some Latinos for Trump and I got an earful. Many of them saw themselves not as Latinos but as Americans, and so they weren’t hung up on Trump’s anti-Latino screeds. They didn’t like or trust Clinton, appreciated Trump’s frankness, wanted a strong leader, and thought he was right about a lot of issues, including trade and immigration.
Yes, immigration. What most non-Latinos don’t grasp is that Latinos are ambivalent about illegal immigration. They have a front-row seat not just to the pain of deportations, but also to how many immigrants commit crimes or abuse social services.
In 2016, an astounding 29 percent of Latinos voted for Trump.
And now, two years into his presidency, polls show that his support among Latinos is somewhere between 33 and 41 percent. That’s insanely good for a president who is so bad on issues that Latinos supposedly care about.
Then you have the Democrats, who take Latino voters for granted and whose entire Latino outreach strategy can be summed up in six words: “Vote for us. We’re not Republican.”
That’s it? I don’t know about you, but I’m still hungry.
I’m noting a lot of strange new respect from Trump from NeverTrumpers lately.
HILLARY IN 2020: She really does seem to saying yes.
OPEN THREAD: Well, art is art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, you tell me what you know.
ON THIS DAY IN 1886: Grover Cleveland dedicated what we now call the Statue of Liberty.
IT’S A SENSIBLE, HELPFUL IDEA, EXCEPT WHEN TRUMP SAYS IT: Brooklyn president tells off-duty cops to bring guns to church.
SHAMEFUL: Protesters heckle Marsha Blackburn during moment of silence for Tree of Life victims. “You know it’s bad for your side when Dem Phil Bredesen had to release a statement distancing himself from his own supporters.”
MEDIA CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE OF HATE: If You Ignore the News, America Actually Seems Pretty Nice: Drive from coast to coast and everybody seems to be getting along fine — as long as you don’t listen to talk radio in the car or turn on cable TV news at the hotel. “Now that I’m back in New York and my media diet is back to more or less normal, the sense of calm, remove and, yes, optimism that pervaded my long days of driving has begun to dissipate. Maybe this just means I’m returning to the real world after an escapist journey. But I also wonder if it’s an indication that my normal media diet — even though it’s mostly free of such known toxins as Facebook and cable TV news, and heavy on old books — is driving me a little nuts.”
DON’T GET COCKY, KIDS: Smart money is on Republicans keeping control of House, betting site odds say.
UPDATE: I said not to get cocky. Three well-known sites have DEMOCRATS favored to win House. Meanwhile, a friend on Facebook posts: “What am I doing this afternoon? Well, so glad you asked: I’m making thousands of phone calls to NC Republicans and asking them if they know where their polling place is; do they need a ride to the polls; is there someone they know who needs one; would they like a Republican voter guide (or at least see if they understand the other ballot proposals)… Hook up with your (largely useless) GOP locally and do what you can – everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) hinges on these midterm elections!”
THE 21st CENTURY IS NOT WORKING OUT AS I EXPECTED: Woman Who Had Belly Button Removed Now Says She Regrets Procedure.
Paulina Casillas Landeros, 23, got mad at her family, so she decided to hit them where it hurts: Her belly button.
Landeros, from Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico, decided to have her belly button removed in an act of revenge against her estranged family, The Sun reports.
After the removal, she sent the belly button to her then-boyfriend as a “present.”
Her family was not happy with her lifestyle choices, from her tattoos to her “extreme body modifications such as a back corset – where piercings are created on either side of the spine, laced with ribbons and pulled tight – along with a split tongue,” The Sun said.
So she had her belly button removed because, as she said, it’s “what makes us human.”
Ayn Rand didn’t intend for The Return of the Primitive to be a how-to guide for life.
A WIN FOR THE “TROPICAL TRUMP:” Bolsonaro Wins In Brazil.
Richard Fernandez comments: “Events like this pose a real intellectual challenge for the Third Way crowd. It can’t just be Trump that’s causing this, can it? There must be some unacknowledged problem with the old global world that is driving this. Whether you are for or against the obvious revolt, perhaps more urgently if you are against it, there is the necessity to understand the causes of the crisis beyond the explanations offered by late night comedians.”
So far there seems little effort to understand. They seem to think that the magic words “racist!” “fascist!” will return things to the status quo ante. But the spell no longer works as it once did. And while they may dimly sense that Trump is a symptom, not a cause, they can’t bring themselves to admit that he’s a symptom of their own failure.
HAIRY HUMPING HIPPIES HARDEST HIT: When George Orwell Got in a Fight With the Anarchist Author of The Joy of Sex.
(Classical reference in headline.)
SPACE: Hayabusa2 Braces for a Rocky Landing on Asteroid Ryugu. “The mission focus is now on the successful retrieval and return of a surface sample.”
SLATE ON “THE MORAL BANKRUPTCY OF HATE SPEECH ON GAB.” Insufficient censorship is now “moral bankruptcy.” We’ve seen this before.
KANYE WEST DESIGNS “BLEXIT” APPAREL URGING BLACK PEOPLE TO LEAVE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
At Power Line, John Hinderaker writes, “This is, of course, the Left’s nightmare: African-Americans declaring independence from liberalism, the welfare state and the Democratic Party. And the current generation of fiery, smart young black leaders can, I think, make it happen in sufficient numbers to be a political earthquake.”
MOST WILL FAIL, OF COURSE, BUT THAT’S ALWAYS THE CASE: 18 Automotive Startups and Their Chances of Survival.
REVIEW: Walther CCP M2.
AT AMAZON, Fall Savings on Washers and Dryers.
MICHAEL LEDEEN: Jews Must Defend Themselves and Fight Their Enemies.
IT’S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL SOMEONE EATS ASPARAGUS: Scientists Have Finally Engineered More Sustainable Bricks Out Of… Human Urine.