NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Public university hides results of hate-crime investigation, including suspects’ race. Spoiler: They’re not hiding this stuff because they’d look good if it came out.
Archive for 2018
June 6, 2018
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, JUST MAKING STUFF UP EDITION: The increasingly absurd Marquette University has reportedly banned “proselytizing” on its campus, but if you think that means “inducing someone to convert to your faith,” slow down, Captain Dictionary. In other news, Marquette has also determined that objects moving in the approximate direction of a vector originating at the center of the earth and aiming outward into space shall be described as “falling,” because why not?
WHEN YOU’VE LOST MR. WOKE HIMSELF…Outgoing Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz rips Democrats for veering too far left: ‘How are we going to pay for these things?’
Ehh. That’s Tomorrow Guy’s problem!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEe2pN8oksc
D-DAY MEMORY: Rangers lead the way at Pointe du Hoc.
OF COURSE THEY DID: GOP Senate report says Obama officials gave Iran access to US financial system.
A new Senate GOP-authored report alleges that top officials in the Obama administration secretly authorized Iran to convert assets to the U.S. dollar, even after the officials repeatedly assured Congress that no such financial transactions would take place under the 2015 nuclear deal.
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman (R), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), unveiled the new report on Wednesday, claiming top government officials granted a “license” that would allow the conversion of Iranian assets worth billions of U.S. dollars through the U.S. financial system.
“Senior U.S. government officials repeatedly testified to Congress that Iranian access to the U.S. financial system was not on the table or part of any deal,” the report reads.
“Despite these claims, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, at the direction of the U.S. State Department, granted a specific license that authorized a conversion of Iranian assets worth billions of U.S. dollars using the U.S. financial system,” it continues.
It might be time to start saying: “Just think of them as Iranian intelligence officers with American security credentials, and it all makes sense.”
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: A Marquette University professor says she keeps a diary of “everyday microaggressions” to help her overcome her own “whiteness” in order to “recognize racism.” She’s at Marquette, of course, where the SJW idiocy seems never-ending.
LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Oconus Lures, McCabe’s Immunity and Much, Much More. “Recently released text messages between the FBI’s former ‘it’ couple Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, suggest there were some overseas spies involved in an FBI operation back in December of 2015. We don’t know exactly what the “oconus lures” were doing but we were told the Trump counterintelligence investigation didn’t begin until July 2016. I wonder what might be going on here?”
LET’S GET FRACKING: Venezuela’s PDVSA Fails To Meet Oil Supply Obligations.
Related: Oil prices move higher as Venezuela supply crisis intensifies.
CATHARINE MACKINNON HARDEST HIT: Poll: Trump accuser Stormy Daniels sparks Democrats to embrace porn.
Trump sex accuser and adult film actress Stormy Daniels seems to be giving porn a good name, at least with Democrats.
A new Gallup morals survey, struggling to determine why porn popularity has grown to new highs, suggested that the sex star has given it a “moral credibility,” especially among critics of President Trump.
How else to explain why for the first time ever a majority of Democrats are good with porn?
Just another failing industry being revitalized by the Trump Presidency!
EVEN MORE FROM NOTORIOUS ROBOPHOBE MATTHEW YGLESIAS: There’s no evidence that sex robots provide health benefits. “We need more research.”
No shortage of volunteers, I’m sure.
PAGING RICHARD GRENELL. The Jerusalem Post: Iran seeks weapons of mass destruction technology in Germany.
GREEN ON GREEN: Imam banned from Facebook for mocking Hamas and “peaceful Palestinian protests.” “It isn’t the first time that Tawhidi has had his Facebook account shut down. Last year, the same thing happened after complaints from Muslims about his posts. Particularly as an imam, Tawhidi has offended many by calling for ‘a review of Islam in Australia and demanded Muslims respect freedom of speech and democracy.’ During a Muslims Facing Tomorrow Iftar dinner in Mississauga, Ontario, at which I was also present, Tawhidi delivered a speech that would certainly be labeled ‘Islamophobic’ and ‘far right’ by the usual mainstream Muslim groups with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as by their leftist water carriers.”
Much more at the Jihad Watch link.
I’M OFF TO A SECURE UNDISCLOSED LOCATION — JEEZ THAT JOKE GOES BACK A LONG WAY NOW, TO 9/11/2001 — and I’m leaving the blog in the able hands of my army of cobloggers. I’ve left some posts scheduled, but otherwise I’m outta here. I’ll be back next week, tanned, rested, and ready.
FLASHBACK, OCTOBER 28, 2016: If Hillary Is Indicted, President Clinton Could Pardon Herself and Congress Might be Helpless.
So, assuming Clinton follows the latter approach and issues the self-pardon, where does that leave Congress? Could the House of Representatives start impeachment proceedings based on the criminal indictments?
That answer to that question is a resounding “no.”
Under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, “The President… shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
The Constitution further provides that impeachment proceedings are to begin in the House of Representatives and if approved by a simple majority vote, the matter proceeds to the Senate for trial. When the president is tried, the Chief Justice presides over the Senate trial. A conviction requires a 2/3-majority vote and the Senate may impose punishment including barring the individual from holding future office. Although, the Senate is required to take an additional vote if it wishes to impose a ban on holding future office.
In Clinton’s case, however, the conduct underlying this hypothetical indictment occurred prior to her taking office. The House of Representatives, as far back as 1873, has determined that a person cannot be impeached based on conduct prior to them holding office. In other words, House precedent says a President Hillary Clinton could not be impeached as president for crimes related to the e-mail server or the Clinton Foundation.
In 1873, the House of Representatives considered impeaching the Vice President for crimes committed before he took office. After considering the matter, the House determined impeachment was only proper for crimes committed while in office.
Well, sure, if Hillary were president.
CYBERSECURITY: iOS 12 users must unlock their iPhones every hour to maintain USB connections.
The change to a one-hour limit means there is an extremely small window of opportunity for government agencies and law enforcement to use unlocking services and tools to acquire data from a device.
Firms like Cellebrite, a forensic security firm allegedly tapped to unlock an iPhone following the San Bernardino shooting, and Grayshift’s GrayKey tool typically rely on having physical access to the device. As law enforcement needs to make sure the device has been unlocked within the window, it is now significantly harder to keep the iPhone in a usable state until such forensic tools can be used.
“That pretty much kills GrayKey and Cellebrite, Point3 Security director Ryan Duff advises. “If it actually does what it says and doesn’t let any type of data connection happen until it’s unlocked, then yes. You can’t exploit the device if you can’t communicate with it.”
Smart. iOS 12 is due out this autumn.
DID MATT YGLESIAS WRITE THIS? The downsides of sex robots include STIs and pedophilia.
OUCH: Time’s Up, Bill. “What always made Bill Clinton’s transgressions so pivotally important — and a legitimate subject for scrutiny — was that they happened after the rules and assumptions governing sexual harassment had changed. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were presidents in the 1960s, before the term ‘sexual harassment’ had been coined, in 1975, by the feminist scholar Lyn Farley.”
Also, feminists protected Bill when he could do something for them. Now he’s outlived his usefulness, but there are still points to be gained by pissing on his political grave. Because it’s always been about power, not about any sort of principle
COMMANDER SALAMANDER: Japan Steps Out from History’s Shadow.
As I said almost a half-decade ago, say hello to the return of the Japanese flattop;
The ruling party endorsed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s call to remove a 1 percent psychological cap on defense spending against gross domestic product that has been in place since the 1970s.
In line with the more ambitious spending policy, Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party on May 25 also gave its blessing to refit the helicopter carrier Izumo into a full-fledged aircraft carrier.
All smart-thinking navalists should welcome this move by Japan. Though their own distinct culture, the Japanese are firmly in the Western camp and are a good and just people. WWII notwithstanding, they have never been a natural enemy of the United States.
As China rises, a strong Japan will with each year be an important part of keeping her in check – or at least looking over her shoulder.
Welcome to the end of the end of history.
STEVEN HAYWARD: Climate Change Has Run Its Course.
Climate change is over. No, I’m not saying the climate will not change in the future, or that human influence on the climate is negligible. I mean simply that climate change is no longer a pre-eminent policy issue. All that remains is boilerplate rhetoric from the political class, frivolous nuisance lawsuits, and bureaucratic mandates on behalf of special-interest renewable-energy rent seekers.
Judged by deeds rather than words, most national governments are backing away from forced-marched decarbonization. You can date the arc of climate change as a policy priority from 1988, when highly publicized congressional hearings first elevated the issue, to 2018. President Trump’s ostentatious withdrawal from the Paris Agreement merely ratified a trend long becoming evident.
A good indicator of why climate change as an issue is over can be found early in the text of the Paris Agreement. The “nonbinding” pact declares that climate action must include concern for “gender equality, empowerment of women, and intergenerational equity” as well as “the importance for some of the concept of ‘climate justice.’ ” Another is Sarah Myhre’s address at the most recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union, in which she proclaimed that climate change cannot fully be addressed without also grappling with the misogyny and social injustice that have perpetuated the problem for decades.
The descent of climate change into the abyss of social-justice identity politics represents the last gasp of a cause that has lost its vitality. Climate alarm is like a car alarm—a blaring noise people are tuning out.
Well, as I’ve pointed out repeatedly, it also became blindingly obvious that the people who kept telling us it was a crisis weren’t acting like a crisis. They kept their big houses, SUVs full of bodyguards, and private jets. They’re like fervent abolitionists who never got around to freeing their own slaves.
Related (From Ed): I wrote that Al Gore declared Mission Accomplished on the whole radical environmental movement at the beginning of 2013, when he sold his little watched Current cable TV network for a yuuuuge paycheck from Qatar, the very definition of Big Oil.
SUSTAINABILITY: In 16 years, Social Security will have to cut benefits by 21% if lawmakers do nothing to cure the program’s long-term funding shortfall.
That’s what the Social Security and Medicare trustees projected in their 2018 annual report released Tuesday.
The trustees estimate that by 2034 the combined trust funds for Social Security — which help fund the old age and disability programs — will run dry. At that point Social Security will be able to pay only 79% in promised benefits to retirees and disabled beneficiaries.
So if you were expecting to get $2,000 a month, your payout would shrink to $1,580.
Anything which can’t go on forever will stop.