Archive for 2018
November 28, 2018
AT AMAZON, Cyber Monday Deals All Week
SUNNY ITALY, home of newfound gun freedoms. “Salvini says he is on the side of honorable, decent, tax-paying Italian citizens, and just wants to give them a reasonable chance to effectively defend themselves from violent criminals. Citizens are enthusiastically responding by applying for licenses, and buying guns, at a record, and accelerating, pace. . . . The new law doubles the number of weapons licensed citizens can own, and also eliminates limits on magazine capacity.”
WILLIAM MURCHISON: What posturing and positioning we can expect from the next Democratic House.
The New Deal, without precisely turning Democrats into the Planning Party, planted in them an enthusiasm for giving orders and directions to people not necessarily enthusiastic about being told what to do. And so came to pass the progressive vision: Progress our way, because we know what’s good for you.
What’s ahead? Other than attempted impeachment of the president? The progressive agenda will take shape in the House: probably a $15 minimum wage; maybe free college tuition and broad legalization of marijuana; almost certainly, tighter control of pharmacy prices and laxer oversight of immigration. Higher taxes on business will be proposed. Also, mandatory maternity leave from work. A federal support check for every taxpayer is a progressive notion looking better and better to poverty-fighters.
And what items on this large and luscious list will become law? None of them, actually. Not in 2019 and 2020. The Republican-controlled, and easily more conservative, Senate will shoot down all of them.
I expect that with the Senate (hopefully) going back to its traditional role of the chamber where bad ideas go to die, that the Democratic House is going to be an even bigger circus than usual — especially given the unprecedented numbers of vocal “democratic” socialists about to join Pelosi’s caucus.
If nothing else, it should prove entertaining.
FLASHBACK: Give Bankers Skin In The Game.
THE THINGS THEY THINK BUT DO NOT SAY: Don’t Democrats like Beto in Fact Agree — 100%! — with Trump that Central American Countries Are Shitholes?
MIDDLE EAST MUDDLE: How Saudi and Qatar are competing over Iraq.
A Qatari delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani visited the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Nov. 7, where he met with the Iraqi president, prime minister and parliament speaker to “discuss the ties between the two countries.”
Three days after the Qatari delegation’s visit, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia Khalid Al-Falih visited Baghdad and met with as many figures as did the Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs. This happened in light of the tense relationship that has governed Saudi-Qatari ties since June 2017.
While in Baghdad, Falih met with Iran-backed leaders of the Popular Mobilization Units that Saudi Arabia categorizes as “lawless militias,” and he invited them to visit Doha. These meetings confirm that Doha is trying to compete with Riyadh and even sabotage its ties with Iraq by building a relationship with Saudi enemies in Iraq.
Given the polarization between Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the region, each of them is trying to attain a rapprochement with Iraq. Meanwhile, as Iraq is trying to cut off energy imports from Iran due to US pressure after the reimposition of sanctions against Iran, both Riyadh and Doha could replace Tehran in this issue. This is also a chance to win over Baghdad’s new government.
Moreover, some Iraqi Sunni blocks that are funded and backed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia are competing for the minister of defense position in new Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government. It is therefore likely that the two countries of the Gulf are also competing at this level.
Maybe Joe Biden was right about partition. Three governments with fewer factions to manage might do better than one impossibly corrupt government in an impossible situation.
WITH A SAD PHOTO OF HIS BURNED-OUT HOME: Gerard van Der Leun: The Ashes: Now I Know.
CAN’T HARDLY WAIT: Get ready for Congress’ annual Shutdown Theater Christmas Special.
Democrats want to use the shutdown clock to push for an apparently unconstitutional bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s job. Following the appointment of acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Democrats (and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.) have sounded the alarm about the need to insulate Mueller from being fired by the president who appointed him.
“I feel very strongly about protecting Bob Mueller,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a recent interview. ”I think that I will look at any and all vehicles in order to do that. That goes to the question as to whether the president is above the law.”
Meanwhile, President Trump has also toyed with the idea of using the government shutdown as a means to get concessions from Democrats on border security. As recently as Thursday POTUS said that “there certainly could be” a shutdown if immigration concerns remain unaddressed by the December 7 deadline.
What didn’t make the list? Any concerted attempt by the GOP to address Obamacare’s lingering list of problems or Planned Parenthood funding.
Now that there is no tomorrow, you might have hoped that the GOP Congress would legislate that way. But no.
TWITTER DEPLATFORMING, VOLUNTARILY OR BY TWITTER’S MANAGEMENT? Make Them Push You Off the Battlefield, Baldilocks writes.
AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR: 3 U.S. Soldiers Killed by Roadside Bomb in Afghanistan.
THINGS THAT ARE NORMAL AND UNEXCEPTIONABLE BECOME EVIL AND UNPRECEDENTED WHEN TRUMP DOES THEM: Border agents routinely used tear gas during Obama administration, DHS data shows.
I’M NOT SAYING IT’S ALIENS, BUT IT’S ALIENS: Whenever something asinine happens in this country, I tease my friends that it’s time for conservatives to pull up stakes and colonize northern Baffin Island (at least I think I’m teasing). Today one friend sent me a link suggesting that somebody may be getting in ahead of us.
November 27, 2018
THEY HAVE LEARNED NOTHING AND FORGOTTEN NOTHING. J. Christian Adams on Kavanaugh 2.0: Smears Against Court Nominee Tom Farr.
AT AMAZON, Cyber Monday Deals last all week.
GOOD. MIKE ESPY WAS A RACE-BAITING CROOK. Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith wins Mississippi US Senate runoff amid racial controversies. “Her win on Tuesday means Republicans will hold 53 seats to Democrats’ 47 seats in the Senate in January. The GOP grew its majority in the Senate by two seats in this year’s midterm elections even as Democrats took control of the House.”
TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Ex-Special Ed Teacher Faces 5 Years for Sexually Assaulting Students. “Laura Calladio Ramos, 32, of Milford, pleaded no contest on Monday to two counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of violating a protective order before Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin, who said he intends to sentence her to a maximum of five years in prison in late January. She could have faced up to 25 years if convicted on those charges during a trial.”
WHY IS THE LEFT SUCH A CESSPIT OF RACISM? Of Course: Study Shows White Liberals Talk Down To Minorities, Avoiding Language That Demonstrates Higher Competency.
MERRY CHRISTMAS WINTER SOLSTICIAL SEASON GREETINGS FROM THE LEFT: Once Again, the First Lady’s Festive White House Christmas Decorations Bring Out the Worst in Democrats.
THE 21st CENTURY IS NOT WORKING OUT AS I HAD HOPED: Kate Beckinsale Brags About Getting ‘Foreskin Facial’ Made From Korean Infants In Now-Deleted Post.